WASHINGTON — Perhaps no sector has more to gain under the Obama administration than the nation’s fledgling stem-cell companies, which have long bemoaned a Bush policy that limits funding to embryonic stem-cell research. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to overturn that 2001 policy. President Bush and a minority of Americans say the process is immoral because it destroys human embryos.
But even with the policy overturned, experts say struggling stem-cell developers will face a new, equally daunting obstacle: an investment climate devastated by the financial crisis.
“The good news is there will finally be freedom to operate; the bad news is there will be no more venture capital, which is the real freedom,” said Stephen Brozak, an analyst with WBB Securities.
No company has sought U.S. approval for a therapy using embryonic stem cells, and the $150 million “stem-cell market” consists entirely of equipment used to study the technology, according to research firm TriMark Publications. The Associated Press; AP file photo
