Scientists at Newcastle's Centre for Life have been granted the UK's first licence to create stem cells from unfertilised human eggs for use in therapeutic cloning.

The go-ahead from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will put the researchers at the forefront of global research into the use of stem cells into therapeutic cloning, potentially providing new therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

The decision has been criticised by pro-life groups and coincides with growing debate in the US.

Part of the government's sponsored Life Knowledge Park, the Newcastle Human Embryonic Stem Cell Group says it is now looking for private sector partners to help the UK stay ahead of competing researchers abroad.

The group was established two years ago as a joint venture between the NHS, Newcastle University and the Centre for Life with funding from central and local government, applying for the licence in February of this year.

Professor Alison Murdoch of the Newcastle NHS Fertility Centre and co-lead researcher said: "The potential this area of research offers is immensely exciting and we are keen to take the work we've done so far to the next level," adding that senior scientists, clinicians and patients from all over the world had been in contact to offer support.

She added: "Realistically, we have at least five years of further laboratory-based work to do before we move to clinical trials but this could be reduced if we receive additional funding which would allow us to increase the size of our team."

Professor Murdoch's co-researcher Dr Miodrag Stojkovic, a reader in stem cell biology and embryology at Newcastle University said: "Newcastle is now the national frontrunner in this area of research but pressure is mounting in the United States for its scientists to be allowed to do this work. If we are to stay at the cutting edge, we must get further financial backing or, as has happened before, the UK will lose out."

In the UK, Newcastle is competing with King's College London, which became the first institution to grow human embryonic stem cells a year ago.

Both projects use cells from embryos left over from IVF, and which otherwise have to be destroyed by law within five years.

Pro-life groups have nevertheless condemned the move ­ LIFE's national chairman Professor Jack Scarisbrick calling it  "a deplorable further step down the slippery slope".

He added: "Of course we are told that this therapeutic cloning, as it is called, will open the way to curing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other degenerative diseases. But we have heard those promises so often before and anyway, the end does not justify the means. This is a fundamental principle."

Professor Scarisbrick said LIFE was in favour of conquering these diseases and said that stem cells taken from adults are likely to be just as good, if not better, claiming the Newcastle research represented "runaway science".

The first for the UK comes just as the issue of stem cell research is becoming an increasingly central issue in the US presidential election campaign, with Democrat challenger John Kerry pledging to overturn President Bush's restrictions on the practice, which are influenced by pro-life religious groups.

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk