Stem Cells and Biomedical Research in Texas

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Executive Summary

The Science of Stem Cells and Their Uses

• Stem cells are unspecialized cells that have the ability to replicate and become different cell types.
• There are several different types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells (derived from five- to six-day-old embryos); adult stem cells (found in most of the major organs in the body); cord blood stem cells (found in umbilical cord blood and the placenta); and induced pluripotent stem cells (created when adult cells, like skin cells, are manipulated to return to a stem cell-like state by activating specific genes).
• Stem cells have the potential to cure many different types of diseases and disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.
• Scientists believe that no one type of stem cell will be the cure-all and that multiple types of stem cells will be needed for research.

U.S. Federal Stem Cell Policy

• The Dickey-Wicker Amendment is an appropriations rider attached each year to the bill passed by Congress to fund the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This rider bans federal funding for creating or destroying human embryos for research.
• From 2001 to 2009, President George W. Bush allowed federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research using 21 stem cell lines created before August 2001.
• In 2009, President Barack Obama rescinded Bush’s policy and removed the cutoff date, allowing funding of research on stem cell lines created after 2001.
• In 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed guidelines permitting funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines that are generated from embryos created for reproductive purposes Federal funding is not allowed for the creation of human embryonic stem cell lines or research on human embryonic stem cell lines from sources other than embryos no longer needed for in vitro
• The NIH guidelines are currently being challenged in court, in the case Sherley v. Sebelius, to determine if they conflict with the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. If the legal challenge is successful, it would halt funding for all NIH human embryonic stem cell research including research approved during the Bush administration.

State Stem Cell Policies

• States have different policies and views of human embryonic stem cells. California and Maryland, for example, appropriate state funds to conduct embryonic stem cell research. Others, such as Massachusetts, have permissive policies but do not fund research. A few, including South Dakota, ban embryonic stem cell research. Texas is one of many states that has no specific policy.

Texas Stem Cell Politics and Policies

• Numerous bills have been proposed in the Texas state legislature regarding human embryonic stem cell research but none have passed.

Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Industry in Texas

• The biotechnology industry in Texas employs more than 100,000 people with an economic impact of approximately $75 billion.
• Texas has several programs for promoting research and business development including the Texas Enterprise Fund ($93.1 million used for biotechnology projects), the Texas Emerging Technology Fund ($171 million used for biotechnology projects), and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas ($3 billion used for cancer research).
• In 2010, Texas ranked fourth in the nation for total research and development funding ($17.9 billion) and fifth in the nation in funding from NIH ($1.1 billion). In 2007, it was estimated that for every $1 of NIH funding, Texas generated $2.49 in economic activity, the highest return in the nation.
• Overall, it has been projected that the number of patients treated with stem cell therapies will rise from 20,000 in 2007 to 9.4 million in 2020.
• Revenues from stem cell products are predicted to increase from $12.6 million in 2007 to $16.3 billion in 2020.

Stem Cells and Texas

• Creating policies that will inhibit areas of biomedical and biotechnological development could negatively impact all the work done to promote new business within the state, as well as Texas as a hub for biomedical research.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.