In spring 1999, scientists, biotech companies, ethicists, religious leaders, patient advocates, abortion opponents, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and members of Congress have been involved in protracted discussions on human embryo research. Geron Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company in Menlo Park, California, was at the center of this debate. Geron has been financing research in three U.S. universities to isolate human embryonic stem cells (hES) cells - the original or master cells from which all human tissues develop. The leaders knew that this study is likely to trigger a public debate on the ethics of science; executives proposed a council that can give an external evaluation of ethical research methods and goals. In 1998, Thomas Okarma, PhD, MD, Vice President of Research and Development, created Geron Ethics Advisory Board (EAB). Details of the controversy surrounding ESC research Geron cells and the role played in the formation of EAB response Geron and actions. Okarma EAB assesses the effectiveness of ESC in the dispute, to determine what changes are needed to the mandate, structure and scope of the EAB, especially given the highly controversial nature of future research Geron's website. The recent acquisition gave Geron internal capacity to clone tissues and animals. Because this technology could potentially lead to the cloning of embryos and people, Geron could face more ethically controversial decisions in the future than it was with the HES. "Hide
by Margaret L. Eaton, Clare R. Ozawa, Gerald M. Farquharson Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business 20 pages. Publication date: April 02, 2004. Prod. #: BME10-PDF-ENG
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