Obama Says Yes to Stem Cells: StemCells Inc, Opexa Therapeutics and Aastrom Biosciences Shares Rally

The green light has been turned on for 13 new human embryonic stem cell lines.  Shares of StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM) surge 20%, Opexa Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:OPXA) is up 33%, and Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTM) spiking 15%.

The National Institutes of Health said Wednesday that it had approved 13 new human embryonic stem cell lines for use by federally financed researchers, with another 96 lines under review.

The action followed President Obama’s decision in March to expand the number of such cell lines beyond those available under a policy set by President George W. Bush, which permitted research to begin only with lines already available on Aug. 9, 2001.

Since that date, biomedical researchers supported by the N.I.H. have had to raise private money to derive the cells, which are obtained from the fertilized embryos left over from in vitro fertility clinics.

With federal money banned from being used in any part of the work on the derived lines, researchers had to divide their laboratories and go to extreme lengths to separate research materials based on the financing source.

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/science/03stem.html

The big winners so far are StemCells, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEM), Opexa Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:OPXA), and Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTM).  Don't forget Geron Corp. Shares Display Perfect Head-and-Shoulders Pattern, GERN is also moving up on the news.