The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is inviting proposals to develop new, cheap genome sequencing technologies, aimed at developing a '$1000 genome' by 2014. The entire human genome sequence, the first draft of which was published three years ago, cost an estimated $3 billion, with mammalian genome projects today...
Manufacturers of a new male contraceptive are now recruiting men to take part in a European trial of their product. Pharmaceutical companies Schering and Organon are enrolling around 350 men in fourteen centres, including the Royal Free hospital in London and the Manchester Royal Infirmary. The trial will test dose...
President George W Bush has 're-shuffled' the council that advises him on cloning and other issues in biomedical research. At the end of last week, two members were dismissed from the US President's Council on Bioethics and replaced by three new members. Elizabeth Blackburn, from the University of California at...
The UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that, in line with earlier draft guidance published in August 2003, the National Health Service (NHS) should fund up to three attempts at in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for infertile couples meeting specific criteria. NICE is a cost-effectiveness watchdog established by...
The founder of a controversial UK-based website is claiming to be the first to offer a worldwide database of human eggs for sale to infertile women. The service is a spin-off of another website, mannnotincluded.com which sells mail order sperm to infertile couples, lesbians, and single women. The new website...
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First the good news, then the bad
by Dr John Mills
Today is not the greatest day for those hoping that they might receive NHS treatment to overcome their inability to have children, nor is it for those who try to provide them with help. Doctors have struggled for years to provide good treatment for deserving patients with realistic results and...