Doctors will soon conduct their first clinical trial in China using embryonic stem cells. This will be the first time that a clinical trial is conducted using embryonic stem cells for Parkinson’s disease patients. In this procedure, embryonic stem cells will be injected into the brains of ten Parkinson’s disease patients. The success of the procedure will be determined by the condition of the patients following the surgery; doctors will have to wait for the cells to grow.
In 2015, China’s government announced regulations to control the use of stem cells in clinics. The regulations included additional requirements for stem cell-related studies, such as obtaining informed consent from patients. This study is the first stem cell clinical trial to be conducted since the regulations in 2015. There has been controversy in regards to the trials because it is unclear how the cells will grow in humans. However, the Chinese researchers assured that the animal trials were promising, and they are confident that all of the data collected thus far support the efficacy of the procedure.