Category Archives: Cell Therapy

Osiris Therapeutics Inc says Canadian health regulators have approved its treatment for acute graft-versus host disease in children, making it the first stem cell drug to be approved for a systemic disease anywhere in the world. Osiris shares rose 14 percent to $6.00 in extended trading after the news was announced. Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a potentially deadly complication from a bone marrow transplant, when newly implanted cells attack the patient's body. Symptoms range from abdominal pain and skin rash to hair loss, hepatitis, lung and digestive tract disorders, jaundice and vomiting. The disease kills up to 80 percent of children affected, Osiris said. To date there have been no approved treatments for the disease. Canadian authorities approved the therapy, Prochymal, for use in children who have failed to respond to steroids. Prochymal was approved with the condition that Osiris carry out further testing after it reaches the market. C. Randal Mills, the company's chief executive, said in an interview that could take three to four years. Some investment analysts have been skeptical about Prochymal's future. In 2009, two late-stage clinical trials failed to show the drug was more effective overall than a placebo in treating the disease, … Continue reading →

By Meg Tirrell - 2012-05-18T13:44:15Z Osiris Therapeutics Inc. (OSIR) surged the most in two years after the company said it won the worlds first approval for a stem-cell drug, gaining clearance in Canada to sell Prochymal for a disease that can attack patients who received bone-marrow transplants. Osiris rose 8.8 percent to $5.72 at 9:40 a.m. New York time, after earlier reaching $6 for the biggest intraday increase since June 2010. The shares had fallen 28 percent in the 12 months before today. Prochymal was approved for the treatment of acute graft versus host disease in children for whom steroids havent worked, the Columbia, Maryland-based company said yesterday in a statement. Steroids have a 30 percent to 50 percent success rate, and severe GvHD can be fatal in 80 percent of cases, according to the company. The therapy uses mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow that can take on different forms to combat the immune reaction that causes patients to literally peel out of their skin and shed their intestinal lining, Osiris Chief Executive Officer Randal Mills said in a telephone interview. The disease has no equal. The company hasnt sought approval for this indication in the U.S., where … Continue reading →

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Senesco Technologies, Inc. (Senesco or the Company) (NYSE Amex: SNT), announced today that an oral presentation will be delivered at the 15th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. The conference will be held May 16-19th, 2012 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Company will present during the Cancer-Targeted Gene & Cell Therapy Oral Abstract Session, which will begin Thursday, May 17, at 1:15 P.M. Eastern Time. The oral presentation, entitled SNS01-T, an eIF5A-Based Gene Therapy Nanoparticle Designed for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma, has Anti-Tumoral Activity in Lymphoma, will describe the effectiveness of SNS01-T in B-cell cancers, which is designed to selectively induce programmed cell death. The talk will be delivered by Catherine Taylor who is from Senesco CSO John Thompsons research laboratory at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. About Multiple Myeloma Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell derived from B-lymphocytes, normally responsible for the production of antibodies, in which abnormal cells accumulate in the bone marrow leading to bone lesions and interfering with the production of normal blood cells. Senesco was previously granted orphan drug status for … Continue reading →

11-05-2012 14:16 Stem cells are the body's repair cells. They have the ability to divide and differentiate into many different types of cells based on where they are needed throughout the body. Stem cells can divide and turn into tissues such as skin, fat, muscle, bone, cartilage, and nerve to name a few. With this capability, we can use them as a treatment for joint injuries, ligament and tendon damage, and fractured bones. Using MediVet America's Stem Cell Therapy, we have seen positive clinical improvement in 95% of the arthritic cases performed nationwide. Some owners have even reported seeing a difference in as little as a week! See the original post: Stem Cell Therapy Exclusively at Gandy Animal Hospital - Tampa, FL - Video … Continue reading →

Philippine Daily Inquirer Former President and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was suffering from a mineral deficiency in her bones arising from two corrective surgeries last September, wanted to seek alternative stem cell therapy abroad. However, she was barred from leaving the country last November after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima refused to honor the temporary restraining order issued by the high court on the inclusion of Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Mike Arroyo in the immigration bureaus watch list. In the wake of Arroyos supposed plan to try the radical technology at stem cell centers abroad to cure what her doctors here described as a rare bone disease, a province mate and a colleague of the former President filed a bill to put up a stem cell center in the country. Pampanga Rep. Carmelo F. Lazatin, a member of the minority bloc in Congress, has filed House Bill No. 5287 mandating the establishment of a research facility to explore the benefits of stem cell technology as a potential cure for incurable diseases. Blank cells Stem cells, the foundation of every organ, tissue and cell within the human body, are like blank cells that do not yet have … Continue reading →

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPXA - News), a company developing Tovaxin, a novel T-cell therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and provided an update on recent corporate developments. Corporate development highlights include: We are progressing favorably in the planning and preparations for a clinical trial in Secondary Progressive MS patients, commented Neil K. Warma, President and Chief Executive Officer of Opexa. The clinical trial protocol was submitted to the FDA for final review and we received no additional comments from them. This is a key milestone for us, providing us with the necessary regulatory positioning to advance with the trial preparations and discussions with potential trial sites. Operationally, we believe we remain on track to initiate the trial in the coming months as the team continues to work diligently to finalize preparations. In order to initiate the trial, we will need to secure additional financing, either through a potential partnership or additional capital raise, and this continues to be an important focus for us. The meeting we recently held with clinical trial investigators at the annual American Academy of Neurology conference was well attended and included some … Continue reading →

SILVER SPRING, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nuvilex, Inc. (OTCQB:NVLX), an emerging biotechnology provider of cell and gene therapy solutions, reports the Chairman of its associate company, SG Austria, Dr. Walter Gunzburg, participated in multiple private meetings with leading Japanese biotech and pharmaceutical companies following the recent Annual Meeting of the Organisation for Oncology and Translational Research (OOTR), where he was a invited guest speaker. The meetings took place immediately after his recent bench to bedside presentation of data from the clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors using the companys cutting-edge living cell encapsulation technology. Nuvilex and SG Austria have been actively working to advance the value and use of the live cell encapsulation technology throughout North America and Europe, and are encouraged by the positive response in the Asia-Pacific Rim. Drs. Gunzburg and Salmons have been increasing the number of companies that know about this cutting-edge live cell encapsulation technology and their efforts have been paying off in terms of invitations for in-depth company meetings. Dr. Robert Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of Nuvilex, commented, Japan is well known as an important producer and consumer of advanced medical products and were excited to report there was keen interest in the use … Continue reading →

LEUVEN, BELGIUM--(Marketwire -05/08/12)- TiGenix (TIG), a leader in the field of cell therapy, announced today that during the months of May and June the company will present at a number of key events in Europe and the U.S. geared at investor, industry, and academic audiences to highlight the commercial potential of ChondroCelect, the only approved cell therapy in Europe, and of the company's innovative proprietary allogeneic stem cell platform with programs in Phase I, II, and III for a range of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. May 15-16 BioEquity, Marriott Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany Presenter: Eduardo Bravo, CEO Date & time: Tuesday, May 15, 16:00-16:25 Room: Level 1, Room Gold 1 May 21-23 World Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Congress, Victoria Park Plaza, London, UK Presenter: Eduardo Bravo, CEO Date & time: Monday, May 21, 15:25 -15:50 Title: Cell Therapy & Regenerative Medicine - Progressing into phase III with an orphan indication May 24 Knowledge for Growth, ICC Ghent, Belgium Presenter: Eduardo Bravo, CEO Time: 11:30 Keynote speech - Advanced therapies: this time it is for real June 5-8 18th International Stem Cell Therapy Sociey Annual Meeting, Sheraton Seattle, WA, U.S. Presenter: Eduardo Bravo, CEO Date & time: June 7, 13:45-15:15 Title: … Continue reading →

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- UC Davis Health System researchers are a step closer to launching human clinical trials involving the use of an innovative stem cell therapy to fight the virus that causes AIDS. In a paper published in the May issue of the Journal of Virology, the UC Davis HIV team demonstrated both the safety and efficacy of transplanting anti-HIV stem cells into mice that represent models of infected patients. The technique, which involves replacing the immune system with stem cells engineered with a triple combination of HIV-resistant genes, proved capable of replicating a normally functioning human immune system by protecting and expanding HIV-resistant immune cells. The cells thrived and self-renewed even when challenged with an HIV viral load. "We envision this as a potential functional cure for patients infected with HIV, giving them the ability to maintain a normal immune system through genetic resistance," said lead author Joseph Anderson, an assistant adjunct professor of internal medicine and a stem cell researcher at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures. "Ideally, it would be a one-time treatment through which stem cells express HIV-resistant genes, which in turn generate an entire HIV-resistant immune system." To establish immunity in mice whose immune … Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA HIV patients treated with genetically modified T cells remain healthy up to 11 years after initial therapy, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the new issue of Science Translational Medicine. The results provide a framework for the use of this type of gene therapy as a powerful weapon in the treatment of HIV, cancer, and a wide variety of other diseases. "We have 43 patients and they are all healthy," says senior author Carl June, MD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine. "And out of those, 41 patients show long term persistence of the modified T cells in their bodies." Early gene therapy studies raised concern that gene transfer to cells via retroviruses might lead to leukemia in a substantial proportion of patients, due to mutations that may arise in genes when new DNA is inserted. The new long-term data, however, allay that concern in T cells, further buoying the hope generated by work June's team published in 2011 showing the eradication of tumors in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia using a similar strategy. "If you have a safe way to modify cells in patients with HIV, … Continue reading →