New Xenotransplantation Guidelines Adopted In UK

The UK has put in place an effective ban on the conduct of humanclinical trials of xenotransplantation, pending the appointment of a regulatory authority to oversee the developments in the field until there is an opportunity to put primary legislation in place (Marketletter January 20).

Stephen Dorrell, the UK Secretary of State for Health, said on January 16 that the government was accepting the recommendations put forward by the Advisory Group on the Ethics of Xenotransplantation in its report on the issue.

The report's main conclusion is that it is not currently acceptable to move to trials involving humans, "due to the lack of knowledge at the present time concerning aspects of physiology, immunology and risk of infection."