First stem cell study on patient

Doctors have injected millions of human embryonic stem cells into a patient partially paralyzed by a spinal cord injury, marking the beginning of the first carefully designed attempt to test the promising but controversial therapy, officials announced Monday. 

The patient was treated Friday at the Shepherd Center, a 132-bed hospital in Atlanta that specializes in spinal cord and brain injuries, according to an announcement by the hospital and Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, California, which is sponsoring the research.

The hospital is one of seven sites participating in the study.  Doctors also will conduct tests to see whether the treatment restores sensation or enables the patient to regain movement.  No personal information about the first patient was released.

The milestone was welcomed by scientists eager to finally move the research from the laboratory to the clinic, as well as by advocates for patients and by patients hoping for cures.  Although the cells have been tested in animals, and some clinics around the world claim to offer therapies using human embryonic stem cells, the trial is the first to have been vetted by a government entity and aimed at carefully evaluating the strategy.  After repeated delays, the Food and Drug Administration gave the go-ahead in July.

But the move was criticized by those with moral objections to any research using cells from human embryos, and it is raising concern even among many proponents.  Some argue that the experiments are premature, others question whether they are ethical, and many fear that the trials risk disaster for the field if anything goes awry. 

Supporters of the privately funded research are confident that it has been exhaustively vetted.  The FDA has demanded extensive experiments in the laboratory and on animals to provide evidence that the cells hold promise and are safe enough to test in people.