With support from scientists, Italy’s health minister halts a controversial clinical trial.


Acknowledging the concerns of a number of scientists in Italy, the country’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, agreed to put a stop to a controversial stem cell clinical trial...

The Stamina Foundation, an Italian research organization, developed a method to treat neurodegenerative diseases using neurons grown from bone marrow. The Italian government agreed to fund the trials. But an expert panel, appointed by the Italian government ..., determined that the method was bunkum.

Indeed, scientists in Italy have been concerned that there was no scientific foundation to Stamina’s method. And earlier this year, Nature did its own investigation, revealing that a figure in a patent application from Stamina originated from experiments by another group. According to the article, “the identical figures represent very different experimental conditions.”
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Stamina president Davide Vannoni...(said)...“the reasons for rejection are totally unfounded.” According to Nature, Vannoni plans to reinitiate the trial, this time in China.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articl...Trial-Stopped/