The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will soon come out with the new revised and final Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy providing ethical and scientific directions to scientists and clinicians working in the field of stem cell research in the country.
According to sources, senior officials in the premier research organisation of the country are burning the midnight oil to release the new document by the end of March this year, a date tentatively fixed by the ICMR itself. Hectic activities are going on in the Council and the process of revising the guidelines, by incorporating several valuable suggestions received through the public consultations held by the ICMR at five different places in the country, is in the final stages and will be released very soon, sources said.
Earlier in June last year, the National Apex Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy (NAC-SCRT), constituted by the Union health ministry early last year for effectively reviewing and monitoring the stem cell research in the country, had decided to revise the Guidelines for stem cell research regulation in the country.
The decision to revise the Guidelines was taken by the NAC, headed by Dr Alok Srivastava, haematologist, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, as the committee felt that several developments had occurred during the last more than four years since the Union health ministry formulated the Guidelines for stem cell research regulation in 2007, prescribing strict procedures for souring and the use of stem cells by research institutions.
The ICMR and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) jointly had formulated Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy in the year 2007 providing ethical and scientific directions to scientists and clinicians working in the field. The ICMR's intervention in the issue comes in the backdrop of the feeling in the government that though stem cell research holds promise for improving health through regeneration and restoration of damaged organs by various injuries and disease, it also raises several ethical, legal and social issues.
To evolve a consensus on the document among the various stakeholders like patient groups, clinicians, scientists, NGOs, religious groups, media, social groups, biotech companies, pharma companies, etc, the ICMR had held five 'public consultations' on the guidelines last year.