ALL STEM CELLS

Japan passed two regenerative-medicine laws on 20 November.
A law intended to hasten approval of stem-cell treatments rules that candidate therapies no longer need to pass rigorous phase III clinical trials to prove efficacy — a move that critics say could flood the market with ineffective treatments (see Nature Med. 19, 510; 2013). Another law requires physicians to report the clinical use of unapproved stem-cell therapies to the Japanese health ministry.
The new regulations will be implemented within a year.