WORCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (OTC: ACTC ) announced today that it is finalizing preparations to file an IND in the second half of this year with the Food and Drug Administration for the Company’s retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell program for the treatment of diseases of the eye. It has available the only technology that can today produce stem cell lines without the destruction of the embryo. While President Obama recently issued an Executive Order that authorizes expanded federal funding for research using stem cells produced by destroying human embryos, the decision remains controversial as some believe that the Government should not fund the ongoing destruction of human embryos. In the coming months Congress will be debating altering or eliminating the Dickey Wicker Amendment which is at the core of this controversy. Advanced Cell Technology’s stem cell platform offers a compromise on this issue, as described in peer review scientific journals published over the past several years. Over 3000 healthy children have undergone the medical procedure, PGD, which is at the core of ACTC’s technology.
