Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, UK is in India to scout for possible tie-ups with Indian stem cell researchers and companies.

India is a huge emerging market and there is considerable interest to access European markets. This is an ideal fit going by the know-how availability. Newcastle University is making a maiden entry into India, Dr Martin Cox, business development manager, Newcastle University said in an email interaction with Pharmabiz.

"Stem cells are becoming the next choice of therapy after drugs and before a surgical intervention and we hope that this technology will be the next revolution in medicine. A whole range of research has been done at the Newcastle University which includes the published paper presentation on the Successful Clinical Implementation of Corneal Epithelial Stem Cell Therapy for Treatment of Unilateral Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency in December 2009," he said. The work involved transplanting limbal stem cells from the good eye of a patient into the other damaged eye, after they had been grown in the lab. There have been a whole range of developments, including in the fields of ophthalmology and diabetes, among others.

There are also challenges of quality control of cell-based products in contrast to small molecules and more traditionally manufactured medicines. The task is developing regulatory frameworks and its officials to understand and authorise new medicines for therapies. In addition, there are also societal and ethical concerns over the use of stem cell, particularly embryonic stem cell- based products. "Based on the experiences of scientists and clinicians in Newcastle, UK, from where some of the most innovative new treatments have emerged in recent years, we are here in India for the Bangalore India Bio 2010 to make some recommendations to the academic and commercial organisations about the opportunities in this area of medical science," he added.

The scene for stem cells therapies globally and in the UK is making progress but proceeding cautiously for safety reasons. However, it is too early to comment on the affordability of such treatment options. "The main obstacle is varied regulations on stem cell research across the world. We also need to be sure that patients can be treated safely with these new techniques. Although, there is considerable progress, we can't go too fast with this," he said.

Commenting on the issue of poor utilization of cord blood stem cells for therapies, Dr. Cox refused to agree on the same. "This is wrong, we use cord blood to treat children, and cannot accept the fact that these cells are kept for any other reason," stated Dr Cox.

On whether cord blood cells or allogenic stem cells is the answer for today's treatment options, he said that it is more likely that allogenic could be the future, but said that nothing could be ruled out at this stage.