by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — A Kansas Senate committee greenlit a bill Friday investing half a million dollars in the University of Kansas Medical Center’s plan to conduct COVID-19 stem cell therapy trials.
The $500,000 appropriation for the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center must be used in 2022 or 2023 to conduct a phase one clinical trial with severe COVID-19 patients. The Legislature established the center in 2013 to focus on a stem cell research program for transplant patients.
In a hearing Wednesday, representatives from the center told legislators medical professionals could use these treatments to treat patients with COVID-19 who experience extreme inflammation.
“We have an opportunity here to be on the cutting edge and leading not only the state or nation, but the world in this type of research that could lead to groundbreaking ways of using the therapies,” said Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita. “They’re working to treat a variety, not just COVID-19 – which is very important – of diseases and ailments that have plagued people for decades.”
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee approved the bill along with a handful of other measures, including a bill to require public reporting of certain lab accidents. The initiatives now go to the Senate, where the full chamber will weigh in on the issues.
Sen. Pat Pettey, a Kansas City, Kansas, Democrat, voiced concerns about the lack of prior approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the use of these treatments for COVID-19.
“Secondly, I have concerns, and this is specific to COVID-19, with those cases decreasing whether they would have enough patients to enroll,” Pettey said. “The Midwest stem cell therapy center does good work, but I don’t see it in the purview of this committee to be making appropriations for a specific item that does not even have a trial study in place.”
A KU Medical Center representative acknowledged the potential for insufficient patients and the need to gain FDA approval as soon as possible during testimony.
A bill amending when an occupational therapist can treat a patient and what insurance they must carry, as well as a bill amending the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also gained committee approval.
A bill enacting the Biological Laboratory Accident Transparency Act raised concerns about the potential for overly burdensome regulations.
“It seems to be directed specifically toward the lab at Kansas State, which there is tremendous oversight over that lab already,” Pettey said. “It took us 10 years to get it and I feel that this is total overreach and not really being directed for the needs of our state.”
The act would require labs that deal with human pathogens or infectious diseases to report any accidents or close calls to the public. Supporters pointed to unsupported theories that COVID-19 originated from a lab in China.
Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, a Galena Republican and chairman of the Senate committee, said the oversight they had did not guarantee public knowledge.
“The transparency part, for the general public to have knowledge when there is a mishap and accident, a spillage or leakage or something like that, is imperative,” Hilderbrand said. “It’s imperative that the general population understands what’s going on, whether the origins are from a bat or from the Wuhan laboratory.”
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See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/02/18/senate-panel-approves-ku-med-stem-cell-therapy-grant-increased-oversight-for-laboratories/.