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Monitoring Stem Cell Research 
and (4) using MSCs to stimulate regeneration of cardiac tissue 
in cases of congestive heart failure. The first two applications 
are currently in Phase II of the regulatory process, with pivotal 
Phase III trials scheduled to begin in 2004.^ 
VI. PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVITY 
In the United States, much of the basic research on animal 
stem cells and human adult stem cells has been publicly 
funded. Yet before 2001, research in the U.S., using human 
ESCs could only be done in the private sector (the locus also of 
much research on animal and human adult stem cells). The 
current state of knowledge about human ESCs (and also about 
human MSCs) reflects pioneering and on-going stem cell re- 
search funded by the private sector in the For example, 
the work that led to the 1998 reports of the first isolation of 
both ESCs and EGCs, was funded by Geron Corporation. Em- 
bryonic and adult stem cell research is today vigorously pur- 
sued by many companies and supported by several private 
philanthropic foundations,®® and the results of some of this re- 
search have been published in peer-reviewed journals.®^ Pri- 
vate sector organizations have pursued and been awarded 
patents on the stem cells themselves and methods for produc- 
ing and using them to treat disease. As noted above, at least 
one company (Osiris Therapeutics) has protocols under review 
at the FDA for clinical trials with MSCs. It seems likely that 
private sector companies will continue to play large roles in 
the future development of stem cell based therapies. 
Vn. PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS 
While it might be argued that it is too soon to attempt to 
draw any conclusions about the state of a field that is chang- 
ing as rapidly as stem cell research, we draw the following 
preliminary conclusions regarding the current state of the field. 
Human stem cells can be reproducibly isolated from a vari- 
ety of embryonic, fetal, and adult tissue sources. Some human 
stem cell preparations (for example, human ESCs, EGCs, 
PRE-PUBLICATION VERSION 
