Profession
New Jersey establishes stem cell research institute
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 7, 2004
New Jersey became the first state to publicly fund stem cell research with the establishment last month of an institute to be operated jointly by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers University.
The institute will be built in New Brunswick, near the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. The state is providing $6.5 million, and Gov. James E. McGreevey said he expects more than $20 million will be raised in public and private funds over the next five years.
Noting that New Jersey-based pharmaceutical companies developed more than one-third of the new medicines the FDA-approved in 2002, McGreevey said the state is "the natural place for this entity to blossom."
"We have the unique combination of pharmaceutical infrastructure, biomedical research, university expertise and political will necessary to advance stem cell research," McGreevey said at a May 12 bill-signing.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/06/07/prbf0607.htm.
