The Stem Cell Task Force (SCTF) of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the government body which has issued the guidelines for the stem cell research and therapy and guidelines in India visited the Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine on the 07th May 2007. The team comprised of Dr Geeta Jotwani (Senior Research office, In-charge of stem cell project at ICMR, New Delhi), Dr Polani B Seshagiri (Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and member of the SCTF, ICMR), Dr?SS Agarwal (Former Director, SGPGIMER, Chandigarh & member SCTF, ICMR), and Dr. Deepika Mohanty (Hematologist, Member SCTF, ICMR). The team evaluated the (i) Protocols for clean room maintanence, (ii) Stem cell processing infra structure, (iii) Culture methodology precaution protocols, (iv) Actual infra structure facility and the live cultures of various cells underway apart from going through the future plans and projects. The constitution and profile of the members of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) and Insitutional Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy (IC-SCRT) were also scrutinised. The team overall appreciated the efforts of NCRM (comments written given below).

The Stem cell task force of ICMR (sitting) with the members of NCRM

At the moment, ICMR is the body which has come out with guidelines for stem cell research and therapy. These are only guidelines and accordingly the usage of autologous stem cells in research and treatments?are permissible*, provided the application procedure and protocols are approved by the IEC and IC-SCRT and are notified to the NAC-SCRT (National Accreditation Committee for Stem Cell Research and Therapy; which is yet to be formed) and further approved. For marketable products, the approval of the DCGI (Drug Cotroller General of India) are necessary.