Even as activities are in full swing to give a final shape to the revised guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy, the National Apex Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy (NAC-SCRT), as a first step, has started the process of registration of Institutional Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy (IC-SCRT) in the country.

Sources in the union health ministry said that while it may take another couple of months for the NAC to finally issue the revised Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy, it has started the process of registration of institutional committees. As per the Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy, 2007, all institutions involved in any type of stem cell research and therapy should be registered with the NAC through IC-SCRT.

Meanwhile the NAC, constituted by the Union health ministry early last year for effectively reviewing and monitoring the stem cell research in the country, has expedited the process of finalising the revised Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy. The NAC, headed by Dr Alok Srivastava, haematologist, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, held a series of meetings during the last one year in this regard, sources said.

A senior health ministry official involved in the process said that the NAC may hold one or two more meetings before finally issuing the new revised document which will provide ethical and scientific directions to scientists and clinicians working in the field of stem cell research in the country.

The decision to revise the Guidelines was taken by the NAC last year as the committee felt that several developments had occurred during the last more than four years since the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) jointly formulated Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Therapy in the year 2007, prescribing strict procedures for sourcing and the use of stem cells by research institutions.

Sources also said that the process of revising the guidelines is being done by the NAC by incorporating several valuable suggestions received through the public consultations held by the ICMR last year. To evolve 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 'public consultations' on the guidelines at five different places in the country.