Advanced Cell Technology (ACT)—a long-struggling developer of therapies derived from human embryonic stem cells—started its first human trials, by treating two patients suffering from blinding eye diseases. The company’s chief scientific officer, Robert Lanza, was still on a high when reached by phone in his Marlborough, MA, office a few days later. “It’s vindication,” he says. “In the early days, we were called murderers. We almost went under a few times. This was not easy.” That may be an understatement. Ever since human embryonic stem cells were first isolated 13 years ago, ACT (OTCBB: ACTC) has been laboring to capitalize on the cells’ talent for transforming themselves into any tissue in the body. Over the years, Lanza and his colleagues have been blamed for everything from overconfidence to unethical science—the latter coming from conservative politicians who wanted to ban such research because the cells are derived from unborn embryos. But ACT charged ahead, raising money from hedge funds and other risk-hungry investors, and concentrating on using embryonic stem cells to regenerate retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, which form a tissue that protects the eye’s photoreceptors.
