Breakthrough: Vatican Council for Culture and NeoStem Advance Research on Adult Stem
Cells
(25 May 10 – RV) NeoStem, Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company, and the
Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture today announced a joint initiative between
their charitable organizations to expand research and raise awareness of adult stem
cell therapies. NeoStem’s Stem for Life Foundation, formed to create awareness about
the promise of adult stem cells to treat disease, and the Pontifical Council’s Foundation
STOQ International (Science Theology and the Ontological Quest), will work to advance
research on Adult Stem Cells, to explore their clinical applicability in the field
of regenerative medicine, and the cultural relevance of such research especially with
its impact on theological and ethical issues.
“For over 40 years, physicians
have been using adult stem cells to treat various blood cancers, but only recently
has the promise of using adult stem cells to treat a significant number of other diseases
begun to be realized,” said Dr. Robin L. Smith, Chairman CEO of NeoStem. “With critical
support to drive research and therapies, this is a monumental step for the field of
regenerative medicine,” added Dr. Smith.
“Considering the potential implications
of scientific investigation, medical applicability and the cultural impact of research
on adult stem cells, collaboration with NeoStem is a critical effort,” said Reverend
Tomasz Trafny, of the Pontifical Council for Culture. “Through educational initiatives
with NeoStem and sponsorship of scientific research programs of cutting edge adult
stem cell science which does not hurt human life, we become one step closer to a breakthrough
that can relieve needless human suffering.”
As part of the collaboration, NeoStem
and the Pontifical Council will make efforts to develop educational programs, publications
and academic courses with an interdisciplinary approach for theological and philosophical
faculties, including those of bioethics, around the world. One of the initiatives
will be a three-day International Conference at the Vatican on adult stem cell research,
including VSEL™ technology that will focus on medical research presentations and theological
and philosophical considerations and implications of scientific achievements.
All
initiatives will aim at providing information, teaching and research on important
issues of human health and the present and future of medical progress on Adult Stem
Cell research and in respecting the value of human life. NeoStem and the Pontifical
Council for Culture through their collaboration aspire to reach religious leaders
and academicians working in the Pontifical and Catholic Institutions but also to extend
their work and results to different institutions beyond Catholic environment.