§ Lord Jacobsasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there are any plans to send National Health Service patients with severe heart disease to Germany for treatment by the injection of stem cells following successful operations in that country; and [HL4953]
Whether any National Health Service funding will be made available to treat patients with severe heart disease in the United Kingdom by injecting stem cells; whether the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has considered this procedure; and, if not, whether it is planning to do so; and [HL4954]
Whether there are any plans to send National Health Service patients with Parkinson's disease to Sweden for treatment by the injection of stem cells to enable them to cease to take dopamine inducing drugs; and [HL4957]
Whether any National Health Service funding will be made available to treat patients with Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom by injecting adult stem cells; whether the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has considered this procedure; and, if not, whether it is planning to do so. [HL4958]
§ Lord WarnerIn the future, stems cells may well provide treatments for a wide range of currently incurable illnesses, such as heart disease and Parkinson's disease. Some early clinical results, both in the United Kingdom and abroad, look extremely promising. However, much more research is needed before the therapeutic potential of stem cells can be fully realised. That is why the Government have committed £40 million to support stem cell research in 2004–06.
It is not government policy to send National Health Service patients abroad to participate in clinical trials. Likewise, there is nothing in the current National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) work programme on stem cells and, at the moment, NICE has no plans to look at stem cell treatment.