Stem Cell Stocks Drop As Congress Fails to Muster Enough Votes

by H.S. Ayoub
BioHealth Investor.com



The new congressional vote to allow increased federal funding for embryonic stem cell research failed to garner the required two-thirds necessary to over-ride an expected veto by President Bush.

The House of Representatives passed the bill to allow expanded federal funding for the research with a 253 to 174 vote, 6% shy of the required 66%.

This is a major setback for the burgeoning field as president Bush's current limitations on the research, imposed back in 2001, has forced many top stem cell experts to leave the United States for Europe and Asia.

This will surely force member states to adopt their own funding policies. Already, California and New Jersey have allocated millions of dollars for embryonic stem cell research.

The private sector continues to fund the research as well, but without the deep pockets of government institutions, such as the National Insitutes of Health (NIH), embryonic stem cell research will not expand fast enough, nor will the U.S. attract top researchers in the field.

Stem cell stocks were down on Friday. StemCells (STEM) dropped 9%, Aastrom (ASTM) lost 6%, while Geron (GERN) and ViaCell (VIAC) both sank about 3% on the day.



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