Dr. Darwin Prockop, director of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, testified during the meeting of the Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee in support of Senate Bill 73, which would help establish an expert research coordinating board to create the consortium.
The bill is authored by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
The coordinating board would oversee funding for adult stem cell research received from both public and private sectors.
Prockop said this project has been in the works for a while and that he testified before a state House committee in May.
At that time, Prockop said he and some others had suggested forming the consortium and the idea advanced to Sen. Nelson submitting the bill.
“I think the idea has been well received,” Prockop said. “Everybody seemed optimistic.”
The goal of the consortium is to foster collaboration and build strength among the individuals working with adult stem cells, he said.
In addition to the Institute of Regenerative Medicine in Temple, Prockop said there are about three other centers in Texas doing adult stem cell research.
The centers’ research doesn’t overlap, he said.
Prockop’s research is targeting treatments for cartilage repair, diabetes and strokes, while Dr. James D. Willerson, co-director of the Cullen Cardiovascular Research Laboratories at Texas Heart Institute in Houston, is focusing on heart disease.
“What I like about Sen. Nelson’s bill is it moves Texas beyond the debate about whether it’s appropriate or inappropriate to destroy human embryos, into the realm of adult stem cell research and treatments, and it does all that without any ethical concerns,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, which lobbies against abortion and embryonic stem cell use.
According to The , Nelson said she does not intend to add amendments to the bill prohibiting other forms of stem cell research.
The Texas Alliance for Life, which worked with Nelson on the legislation, also said it would object to adding any language on other research to the bill.
“That bill is about an adult stem cell consortium and only that, and if there’s going to be a debate about other related issues, it’s going to have to be another bill,” Pojman said.
“Mainly what we want out of this session is no language in any bill that prevents funding for embryonic stem cells in the future,” said David Bales, director of Texans for Stem Cell Research. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, not only in Texas, but in the world.”
The bill was left pending in the Health and Human Service Committee, largely because Sen. Nelson wants to find funding for the program. If the bill passes, it is expected to cost more than $5 million a year.
