The first company to test a human embryonic stem-cell product in patients has become the first big player to bail out of the field. Last week's move shook investor confidence and raised questions about whether the company had overreached itself, as well as underscoring just how difficult novel therapies are to develop. Geron, based in Menlo Park, California, announced on 14 November that it would cease work on its stem-cell-therapy programmes to focus on its anti-cancer portfolio. "It's kind of a heartbreak," says Melissa Carpenter, principal of Carpenter Group Consulting in Seattle, Washington, who served as Geron's director of stem-cell biology in the company's early days. "It is truly unfortunate for the field that the first possible product didn't get to go out of the gate."
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机译：第一家在患者中测试人类胚胎干细胞产品的公司已成为首家退出该领域的大型公司。上周的举动动摇了投资者的信心，并引发了有关该公司是否超越自我的质疑，并强调了新型疗法的开发难度。总部位于加利福尼亚州门洛帕克的Geron于11月14日宣布，它将停止其干细胞疗法计划的工作，以专注于其抗癌产品组合。 “这真是令人伤心，”位于华盛顿西雅图的Carpenter Group Consulting负责人梅利莎·卡彭特（Melissa Carpenter）说，他在公司成立之初曾担任Geron的干细胞生物学总监。 “对于该领域来说，真正的不幸是，第一个可能的产品未能脱颖而出。”
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