Stem Cell Therapy in India

chillibreeze writer — Sunanda Rao

Stem cell therapy is gaining pace in India and is now a sizeable commercial industry of significant value. However, as in any health care industry, there are lots of unanswered questions when it comes to clinical applications of stem cells. Even as a patient, it could prove quite difficult to obtain clarifications about the use of stem cells.

The recent trend in stem cell therapy has been very erratic, and the major players in the arena mix hope with hype and present a scenario that is usually deceptive to the patients. Some players from the private sector, like International Stemcell Services Limited (ISSL) have proved that the stem cell therapy is a viable option for certain diseases where each condition is approached scientifically and treatment options are given to patients. More companies must find their way into mainstream so that stem cell therapy can be offered to deserving patients and will also become affordable.

>> Read more

>> Check out more such India-centric e-books and reports

Government bodies like the DBT and ICMR are organizing awareness meetings on a common platform, where non scientific individuals are given an opportunity to interface with regulatory authorities, to discuss issues regarding guidelines on stem cell therapy, the do’s and don’ts in stem cell therapy. This is a positive step towards regularizing these issues concerning stem cell therapy, as this will enable serious endeavors from the private sector to make promising headway in the domain.

As representatives of a cross section of our society, interested in regenerative medicine:

There must be a definite common ground set between the government, private players and the scientific staff indulging in high end stem cell research.
The government must make the guidelines and implement them within a reasonable time frame especially in the constitution of the National Apex Committee (NAC).
There must be a robust private-public partnership in the stem cell committee so that each sector is properly represented. As implementation is mainly in the domain of private players, this association is of paramount importance.
Government must encourage private players to write clinical grants and must expedite the process in granting their applications. We are receipt to many dissatisfied applicants who complain that the time taken for review of application is very long and tedious and they are seldom granted. No letter of clarification is sent and a reason for non approval is also not communicated. TRANSPARENCY is needed from the government bodies.
Societies, like ours must be made a part of these stem cell committees so that we bring in our dimensions to it.
Government institutes must extend and write translational research grants with the private sector, to encourage public-private partnership. This facilitates acceleration of ideas and brings them from bench to clinical practice.

India is poised on a multi billion dollar industry in stem cell therapy and the focus of the government authorities must be to encourage private players and cut the red tape as much as possible and practice transparency in matters of granting proposals. Innovative indigenous ideas must be put across as this will encourage our students for better participation in this booming industry. Government authorities must exercise its power by bringing young and fresh talent in these promising areas of health and science.

Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com).

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in May, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

More on Chillibreeze.com

Other popular articles on Chillibreeze

Indian Roots of English Words
Antioxidants and Cancer – The Link
Umbilical Cord Blood Banking: Why? What? How?
Aromatic Adventures with Indian Spices
The Fertile Plains - Business of Surrogacy in India

Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...

—About our writer:

Sunanda, a science post graduate is a freelance writer based in Bangalore. She is interested in writing science related articles covering current developments. She also writes in Kannada.

>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:

More resources for Writers on Chillibreeze.com

Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:

Assessment of your writing, editing and proofreading skills

Writing courses

Expert Feedback on your article

An opportunity to promote yourself on our website

Top websites for Indian writers

Tips and resources for Indian freelancers

Book Publishing services

And more………………..

Explore our writers’ section using the links on our left-hand side menu. IMPORTANT! Don’t forget to