Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- LifeMap Sciences, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (NYSE MKT:BTX), announced today that according to Google Analytics, the Companys databases have attracted over two million unique visitors in the previous 12 months. Since the announcement of the acquisition of Xennex in May 2012, LifeMap launched LifeMap Discovery, a database resource for stem cell research, and MalaCards, a database with nearly 17,000 human disease entries. These assets, combined with GeneCards, a compendium of human genes, provide an integrated database suite with diverse commercial opportunities in science and medicine. LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market GeneCards and MalaCards from Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science. LifeMap Discovery is a database owned and developed by LifeMap Sciences. In this update, LifeMap describes the nature of its current users, and outlines for the first time its goals for 2013 in marketing products to this user base. According to Google Analytics, the sites have generated more than 2,000,000 unique visitors with more than 13,000,000 page views in the past 12 months. LifeMap clients and partners include dozens of large, fee-paying pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as leading government patent … Continue reading →

Artificial bone degrades as new bone grows to replace it Team set to start trials on humans By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 10:00 EST, 8 February 2013 | UPDATED: 10:00 EST, 8 February 2013 It only hurts when I laugh: The new healing technique could revolutionise healthcare Artificial bone created using stem cells and a new lightweight plastic could soon be used to heal broken limbs, according to scientists. The use of bone stem cells combined with a degradable rigid material inserted into shattered bones can encourage real bone to re-grow, they found. The plastic has a honeycomb-shaped scaffold structure to allow blood to flow through it, enabling stem cells from the patient's bone marrow to attach to it and grow new bone. Over time, the plastic slowly degrades as the implant is replaced by newly grown bone. The development was made by teams based at the Universities of Edinburgh and Southampton. They are now moving towards human clinical trials after successful results in the lab. Read more here: Artificial bone created using stem cells and a new lightweight plastic could soon be used to heal broken limbs … Continue reading →

The first clinical trials of a revolutionary approach to treating multiple sclerosis with stem cells derived from the patients own skin could begin soon following research showing that it works well on laboratory mice, scientists said. A study has for the first time found that human skin cells converted into stem cells can be used to treat laboratory mice with a condition similar to multiple-sclerosis, where the fatty covering surrounding the nerves is lost. Scientists in the US said initial clinical trials on human patients using a similar approach could begin in 2015, with full-scale studies soon after. The skin cells were first genetically engineered to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) before being converted to the specialised cells that make the fatty myelin sheaths, which insulate nerve cells in a similar way to the plastic covering of an electrical wire. The myelin is gradually degraded in MS patients. Scientists were able to turn the iPS cells into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells which were injected into the mice. These progenitor cells went on to become fully specialised oligodendrocytes, the cells responsible for making the myelin sheath. The new population of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and oligodendrocytes was dense, abundant and complete. In … Continue reading →

ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that President and CEO Richard Garr will present at the 15th Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2013 in New York City on Tuesday, February 12, at 9:30 a.m. EST, in the Duke of Windsor Room at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Garr will present an update on the company'sNSI-566 cell therapy clinical trials, including the FDA-approved chronic spinal cord injury Phase I; ALS Phase II; and the ischemic stroke Phase I/II in Beijing, which the company expects to initiate this month. Additionally, Garr will provide an update on Neuralstem's neurogenic small molecule NSI-189 Phase Ib trial in major depressive disorder. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061221/DCTH007LOGO ) The webcast will be available in real-time at http://www.veracast.com/webcasts/bio/ceoinvestor2013/22206293.cfm and, again, beginning one hour after the conclusion of the live event, and archived for 90 days. The webcast link will also be posted on the Investor Center home page on Neuralstem's website: http://www.neuralstem.com. The BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2013 will be held in New York City, February 11-12. For more information, see: http://www.bio.org/events/conferences/bio-ceo-investor-conference. Neuralstem's President and CEO Richard Garr is also scheduled to serve on the panel, "Treating the Aging Patient with Stem Cells," … Continue reading →

Clinical Trial to Evaluate "First in Class" Approach to Bone Marrow Failure Diseases San Diego, CA(Marketwire) - Regen BioPharma a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. (PINKSHEETS:BMSN), announced today filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA to initiate clinical trials assessing the company's HemaXellerate Istem cell drug in patients with drug-refractory aplastic anemia. HemaXellerate Iis a patient-specific composition of cells that have previously been demonstrated to repair damaged bone marrow and stimulate production of blood cells based on previous animal studies.The company, together with an internationally-renowned group of stem cell researchers, recently published the scientific basis for the HemaXellerate I product which may be found athttp://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-10-231.pdf. "Currently patients with aplastic anemia who are resistant to drugs and ineligible for bone marrow transplant have no therapeutic options.We are fortunate to be in the position to have developed a novel approach to potentially treat this terrible condition," said David Koos, CEO of Bio-Matrix."To our knowledge the HemaXellerate Iproduct is the only therapy that has potential to simultaneously block the underlying cause of aplastic anemia while at the same time rebuilding the bone marrow tissue that has been damaged by the disease." If the clinical trial is successful, … Continue reading →

Feb. 5, 2013 Ottawa scientists have discovered a trigger that turns muscle stem cells into brown fat, a form of good fat that could play a critical role in the fight against obesity. The findings from Dr. Michael Rudnicki's lab, based at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, were published today in the journal Cell Metabolism. "This discovery significantly advances our ability to harness this good fat in the battle against bad fat and all the associated health risks that come with being overweight and obese," says Dr. Rudnicki, a senior scientist and director for the Regenerative Medicine Program and Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He is also a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Genetics and professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Globally, obesity is the fifth leading risk for death, with an estimated 2.8 million people dying every year from the effects of being overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organization. The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that 25% of Canadian adults are obese. In 2007, Dr. Rudnicki led a team that was the first to prove the existence of adult skeletal muscle stem cells. … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Verastem, Inc., (VSTM), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat cancer by the targeted killing of cancer stem cells, announced the publication of data for VS-5584 in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. VS-5584 is a potent and selective inhibitor of the PI3K/mTOR pathway. Previous research has described a central role of this pathway in cancer stem cells. The current study details the biochemical properties and preclinical effects of this compound in multiple human tumor models. The PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway appears critical for the survival and self-renewal of cancer stem cells, said Jonathan Pachter, Ph.D., Verastem Vice President and Head of Research. We have established a broad platform to assess cancer stem cell inhibition in multiple types of human cancer. VS-5584 has been one of the most impressive cancer stem cell inhibitors we have seen to date across these assays. VS-5584 demonstrated potent and highly selective activity against class 1 PI3K enzymes and dual-inhibitory actions against mTORC1 and mTORC2. The compound was profiled across >400 kinases covering all major families of the human kinome. In addition to the biochemical effects, VS-5584 exhibited broad anti-tumor efficacy, including tumor regression, across multiple human tumor models in the … Continue reading →

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 12:06PM EST Last Updated Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 10:41PM EST Muscle stem cells can be made to produce a type of good fat in the body that helps burn energy, according to ground-breaking Canadian research that may one day lead to a treatment for obesity. Researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute are the first to discover that adult muscle stem cells not only produce muscle fibres, but can also turn into whats known as brown fat. Brown fat is a tissue that burns energy and is vital to the bodys ability to keep warm and regulate its temperature. Having more brown fat is associated with being leaner, the researchers say, which makes a potential new method for inducing the body to produce more an exciting discovery in the field of obesity research. It is the magic of stem cells, study co-author Dr. Hang Yin told CTV News. Stem cells have a lot of potential. In this case muscle stem cells, we can turn them into brown fat cells. Lead study author Dr. Michael Rudnicki and his team not only discovered that muscle stem cells can become brown fat, but also how. The … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 5, 2013) - Regen BioPharma a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. ( PINKSHEETS : BMSN ), announced today filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA to initiate clinical trials assessing the company's HemaXellerate I stem cell drug in patients with drug-refractory aplastic anemia. HemaXellerate I is a patient-specific composition of cells that have previously been demonstrated to repair damaged bone marrow and stimulate production of blood cells based on previous animal studies.The company, together with an internationally-renowned group of stem cell researchers, recently published the scientific basis for the HemaXellerate I product which may be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-10-231.pdf. "Currently patients with aplastic anemia who are resistant to drugs and ineligible for bone marrow transplant have no therapeutic options.We are fortunate to be in the position to have developed a novel approach to potentially treat this terrible condition," said David Koos, CEO of Bio-Matrix."To our knowledge the HemaXellerate I product is the only therapy that has potential to simultaneously block the underlying cause of aplastic anemia while at the same time rebuilding the bone marrow tissue that has been damaged by the disease." If the clinical trial is successful, the … Continue reading →

Public release date: 4-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Krista Conger kristac@stanford.edu 650-725-5371 Stanford University Medical Center STANFORD, Calif. - An antibody that binds to a molecule on the surface of a rare but deadly tumor of the gastrointestinal tract inhibits the growth of the cancer cells in mice, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The effect remains even when the cancer cells have become resistant to other treatments, and the findings may one day provide a glimmer of hope for people with the cancer, known as gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST. The scientists hope to move into human clinical trials of the antibody within two years. The antibody's target is a receptor called KIT, which is often mutated in patients with the cancer. When mutated, KIT sends a continuous stream of messages into the cell urging it to grow uncontrollably. The Stanford researchers found that the antibody reduces the amount of KIT on the surface of the cancer cells and stimulates immune cells called macrophages to kill the rogue cells. Currently, people with GIST are often treated first with surgery and then with the drug imatinib, marketed as Gleevec - a small molecule … Continue reading →