SAN FRANCISCO – Despite optimism and enthusiasm, stem cell researchers arriving here Thursday for a conference are rowing hard against strong currents of financial, political and technical turmoil.
There’s even talk of trying to temper heightened public expectations that cures for diseases are imminent.
“Many of the technologies we hyped to the general public haven’t worked yet,” Celgene Corp. president Alan Lewis said Wednesday at a biotechnology trade show in Philadelphia….
Even the most outspoken proponents of the technology concede they are years away from actual drugs based on stem cells….

He also noted that venture capitalists “are very cautious” about investing in stem cell companies because of uncertainty over the field’s future….
Because President Bush has strictly limited the amount of federal funding for the work, scientists are left to rely on support from a few philanthropic groups and one corporate backer: Geron Corp., the money-losing Menlo Park, Calif., biotechnology company that has poured $100 million into human embryonic stem cell research since 1996 – about twice the amount the U.S. government has committed.
Geron is by far the largest company in the field, and it lost about $80 million last year. Other stem cell companies are struggling to stay afloat.
Advanced Cell Technology, a Worcester, Mass., firm has run into big financial problems. It also can’t obtain a steady supply of women’s eggs, a necessity and a giant ethical minefield.

… a growing number of liberal groups, such as women’s rights organizations and biotechnology foes oppose the work as dehumanizing…

… the egg supply has become a crucial sticking point for cloning supporters, which include California’s new $3 billion stem cell agency – the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Agency President Zach Hall and other scientists say that cloning human embryos to harvest stem cells will be an indispensable way to make tailor-made drugs and develop powerful research tools.