Category Archives: Stem Cell Human Trials

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 27, 2012 MissionIR would like to highlight VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: VSTA). VistaGen Therapeutics is a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. Drug rescue combines human stem cell technology with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants ("drug rescue variants") of promising drug candidates that have been discontinued during preclinical development ("put on the shelf") due to safety concerns. Today, Seeking Alpha published the following article featuring VistaGen Therapeutics: http://seekingalpha.com/article/394361 The article titled “VistaGen Therapeutics: A Hidden Stem Cell Opportunity” reviews the largely overlooked application of stem cells in the early stage testing of drug candidates. Using advanced stem cell technology, VistaGen has produced functional human cardiac cells that can be used early on in the drug development process to test for cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity has been a factor in over 30% of drug withdrawals, and addressing it is seen as a major market. The use of real human heart cells in pre-clinical testing offers important advantages over traditional testing methods, such as animal testing. First of all, it can be performed at the earliest stages of development, reducing the risks of developing the wrong drug. It's also more accurate, … Continue reading →

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 23, 2012 MissionIR would like to highlight VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: VSTA), a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. VistaGen’s drug rescue activities combine its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants of once-promising small-molecule drug candidates. These are once-promising drug candidates discontinued by pharmaceutical companies during development due to heart toxicity, despite positive efficacy data demonstrating their potential therapeutic and commercial benefits. In the company’s news earlier this week, VistaGen Therapeutics has engaged MissionIR, a national investor relations consulting firm, to develop and implement a strategic investor relations campaign. Through a network of investor-oriented online websites and full suite of investor awareness services, MissionIR broadens the influence of publicly traded companies and enhances their ability to attract growth capital and improve shareholder value. “VistaGen’s work with human stem cell technology is groundbreaking,” said Sherri Snyder, Director of Marketing at MissionIR. “The company’s versatile platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, provides clinically relevant predictions of potential heart toxicity of new drug candidates long before they are ever tested on humans. Guided … Continue reading →

Bioethicist Glenn McGee’s new job raised questions of conflict of interest at the journal he founded. J. WILSON/KRT/NEWSCOM The field of bioethics is embroiled in a period of soul-searching, sparked by a startling career move by one of its biggest names. Glenn McGee is the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the most cited bioethics journal, which he founded in 1999. Since December 2011, he has also been president for ethics and strategic initiatives at CellTex Therapeutics in Houston, Texas, a controversial company involved in providing customers with unproven stem-cell therapies. A CellTex press release says that “Dr McGee’s responsibilities will include ensuring that all of the firm’s work, centered on adult stem cells, will meet the highest ethical standards of the medical and scientific communities.” Although McGee has said he will leave the journal on 1 March, many bioethicists have criticized him, the journal’s editorial board and its publisher, London-based Taylor and Francis. They argue that in holding both posts, McGee has a conflict of interest between his responsibilities to the journal and his new employer’s desire to promote the clinical application of stem-cell treatments that are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. “Imagine … Continue reading →

Bioethicists debate how to remain impartial as a bioethics journal editor joins a company that peddles unproven stem cell therapies. By Sabrina Richards | February 22, 2012 Bioethicists are debating how, or even whether, one can remain impartial when working for industry as Glenn McGee, founder and editor of the American Journal of Bioethics, joins CellTex, a company that banks patients’ cells for untested stem cell therapies, reported Nature. McGee, who joined CellTex in December of last year and will step down from AJOB on March 1, says he hopes to bring ethical standards to CellTex’s stem cell trials. CellTex licenses therapies from RNL Bio, a South Korea-based company that converts patients’ fat cells into patient-specific mesenchymal stem cells, which the company claims can be reinjected to treat conditions like spinal cord injury. To date, no clinical trials have been completed that back these claims. Though criticism has been leveled at McGee for joining CellTex while remaining at AJOB, observers also wonder whether bioethicists can work in industry at all. McGee has argued that bioethicists have a place in industry, thereby helping bioethics to have a practical purpose. Others, such as Insoo Hyun, a stem-cell bioethicist at Case Western Reserve … Continue reading →

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire -02/21/12)- VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC.BB: VSTA.OB - News) (OTCQB: VSTA.OB - News), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy, has retained MissionIR, a national investor relations consulting firm, to develop and implement a strategic investor relations campaign. Through a network of investor-oriented online websites and full suite of investor awareness services, MissionIR broadens the influence of publicly traded companies and enhances their ability to attract growth capital and improve shareholder value. "VistaGen's work with human stem cell technology is groundbreaking," said Sherri Snyder, Director of Marketing at MissionIR. "The company's versatile platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, provides clinically relevant predictions of potential heart toxicity of new drug candidates long before they are ever tested on humans. Guided by a management team with decades of experience, VistaGen's stem cell technology can potentially save billions of dollars in the healthcare industry while recapturing prior R&D investment in once-promising new drug candidates." "We are pleased to bring MissionIR on board as our external investor relations partner," said Shawn Singh, VistaGen's Chief Executive Officer. "The crucial work our company is doing can fundamentally change the way medicine is developed. Paired with MissionIR's global … Continue reading →

02-02-2012 15:43 Penn State scientists find an inspiring collaboration. Dr. Prabhu, who specializes in the health benefits of fish oil, and Dr. Paulson, who is studying the stem cells that cause leukemia, connected their seemingly separate study areas during a weekly faculty lunch -- the result? A possible cure for Leukemia. Read the original post: Penn State: Inspiring Collaboration - Video -3 … Continue reading →

Company plans launch of two drug rescue programs by end of next quarter Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 16, 2012 MissionIR would like to highlight VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCBB: VSTA), a biotechnology company applying human pluripotent stem cell technology for drug rescue and cell therapy. VistaGen’s drug rescue activities combine its human pluripotent stem cell technology platform, Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™, with modern medicinal chemistry to generate new chemical variants of once-promising small-molecule drug candidates. These are once-promising drug candidates discontinued by pharmaceutical companies during development due to heart toxicity, despite positive efficacy data demonstrating their potential therapeutic and commercial benefits. In the company’s news this week, VistaGen announced the identification of its initial Top 10 drug rescue candidates. The company plans to launch two formal drug rescue programs by the end of next quarter. VistaGen’s goal for each of its stem cell technology-based drug rescue programs is to generate and license a new, safer variant of a once-promising large market drug candidate previously discontinued by a pharmaceutical company no earlier than late-preclinical development. “We are now at an advanced stage in our business model,” stated Shawn Singh, VistaGen’s Chief Executive Officer. “After more than a decade of … Continue reading →

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 By Rodney Brown Advanced Cell Technology Inc. has added an institute in Philadelphia as another site where it is conducting trials of its stem cell-based treatment of an eye condition that can cause blindness. Marlborough-based ACT (OTCBB: ACTC) said that it has added the Wills Eye Institute to the roster of site’s approved for the company’s Phase 1/2 of its stem cell-based treatment for clinical trial for Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD), a form of juvenile macular degeneration. The therapy uses human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Wills Eye Institute had earlier this year won approval as a site for ACT’s clinical trial for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD), the company noted in a release. Earlier this month, ACT released data from a U.S. clinical trial at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute testing the safety of treating Stargardt’s macular dystrophy (SMD) with human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. That news followed just one day after ACT announced it had started using its hESC-based treatment on an SMD patient in a Phase 1/2 trial in Europe. MIT professor and serial entrepreneur Robert Langer joined the board of directors at … Continue reading →

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. (“ACT”; OTCBB: ACTC), a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, announced today that the Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia has received institutional review board (IRB) approval as a site for the company’s Phase I/II clinical trial for Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy (SMD), a form of juvenile macular degeneration, using human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Earlier this year, the Company also announced that the IRB at Wills Eye Institute had approved the participation of the institution as a site for ACT’s clinical trial for dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD). “We thank Wills Eye Institute once more for providing their IRB and their invaluable contribution to our macular degeneration studies,” said Gary Rabin, ACT’s chairman and CEO. “We are very happy that we can now report that Wills Eye Institute has been approved as a clinical trial site for both our SMD and dry AMD clinical trials. Ranked as one of the best ophthalmology hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, the Wills Eye Institute is a truly world-class institution. Our team is eagerly anticipating working with Dr. Carl Regillo, a renowned retinal surgeon and director … Continue reading →

Stemedica has been issued U.S. Patent #8,105,380 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This broad-based patent covers the combination of scaffolds with stem cells derived from ectodermal and mesenchymal tissue. These multi-stem cell products address need in the $12.5 billion wound care field. San Diego, CA (PRWEB) February 15, 2012 Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc. (Stemedica), a leading manufacturer of adult allogeneic stem cells and stem cell factors announced that the Company has been issued U.S. Patent #8,105,380 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This broad-based patent covers the combination of scaffolds with stem cells derived from ectodermal and mesenchymal tissue. Unique features of the invention include a two-layer approach to wound healing: 1) a biodegradable layer that enhances growth factor and cytokine delivery in the wound bed and 2) a non-absorbable biological bandage layer that encourages epidermal closure. Mimicking human skin in its design, the Stemedica product will serve as a skin substitute for full thickness burns and chronic wounds. Estimated sales of wound care products in 2012 are $12.5 Billion. Nikolai Tankovich, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Medical Officer of Stemedica noted, “This patent brings together many aspects of regenerative medicine that are unique to … Continue reading →