14 June 2012 Last updated at 07:25 ET By Eleanor Bradford BBC Scotland Health Correspondent The first patients to take part in a clinical trial of a stem cell treatment for stroke have seen reductions in their disability, according to doctors. Six patients in the west of Scotland had human stem cells inserted close to the damaged part of their brain. After receiving the treatment, they saw improvements in the limb weakness they suffered as a result of their stroke. Howeve, doctors have cautioned against reading too much into the early results of the clinical trial. It is the world's first trial of a neural stem cell therapy for stroke. Stroke is the third largest cause of death and the single largest cause of adult disability in the developed world. The trial is being conducted at the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, and is being led by Glasgow University neurologist Professor Keith Muir. He said: "So far we've seen no evidence of any harmful effects. We're dealing with a group of people a long time after a stroke with significant disability and we don't really expect these patients to show any change over time. … Continue reading →

14 June 2012 Last updated at 10:45 ET By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News Doctors in Scotland have said five stroke patients involved in an experimental stem cell treatment have shown signs of slight improvement. They have stressed that it is too soon to tell whether the improvement is due to the therapy. The medical team has talked about the first results of the treatment at a conference in Japan. The procedure is controversial as brain cells from a foetus were originally used to create the stem cells. A team, from Glasgow's Southern General Hospital, has been injecting the stem cells into the brains of stroke patients. The trial began in November 2010. The participants are all men over the age of 60 who have been severely disabled by a stroke and have shown no sign of improvement for at least a year. We hope to tease out over the next 18 months whether the improvement is due to the treatment The doctors hope that the treatment will repair their damaged brain tissue and restore some of their movement and ability to speak. The trail is at an early stage, and doctors are primarily looking to see that the … Continue reading →

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (OSIR), announced today it has received consent from New Zealand to market its first-in-class stem cell therapy Prochymal (remestemcel-L), for the treatment of acute graft-vs-host disease (GvHD) in children. With this decision New Zealand joins Canada, which last month became the worlds first internationally recognized regulatory authority to grant approval to a stem cell drug. Prochymal is also the first therapy approved for GvHD - a devastating complication of bone marrow transplantation that kills up to 80 percent of children affected, many within just weeks of diagnosis. "With each of our approvals it becomes clearer that the time for life-saving stem cell therapies in the practice of medicine has arrived, and we are humbled to have a leading role, said C. Randal Mills, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Osiris. I would like to thank the professionals at Medsafe for their thoughtful and expeditious review of this complex application. I would also like to thank the team at Osiris that continues to do an outstanding job of making Prochymal available to children around the world suffering from the devastating effects of GvHD." Osiris submitted a New Medicine Application (NMA) to Medsafe(New Zealand's medical … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO) http://www.internationalstemcell.com announced that scientists in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lifeline Cell Technology (LCT), have developed a technology to modify human stem cells by using engineered proteins, called "transducible transcription factors" or "TTFs." TTFs are designed to pass into stem cells and direct the stem cells to change into specific cell types that can be both therapeutically-useful and can be used as revenue-generating research products. In contrast to more traditional cell therapy methods this technology does not require the use of viruses or chemicals, and has the potential to produce safe therapeutic cells from stem cells. In addition, the TTF proteins are naturally eliminated by the cells when no longer required, a characteristic that further improves safety. The Company intends that this technology, once perfected, will first be used to create revenue-generating research products for sale through Lifeline Cell Technologys international distribution channels to the academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets for cellular proteins, including the quickly growing markets for the study of stem cell biology and drug testing. According to Jeffrey Janus, Lifeline Cell Technologys CEO, These proteins can be sold into the market for cellular proteins which exceeds $700 million and represents an … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO) http://www.internationalstemcell.com announced that scientists in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lifeline Cell Technology (LCT), have developed a technology to modify human stem cells by using engineered proteins, called "transducible transcription factors" or "TTFs." TTFs are designed to pass into stem cells and direct the stem cells to change into specific cell types that can be both therapeutically-useful and can be used as revenue-generating research products. In contrast to more traditional cell therapy methods this technology does not require the use of viruses or chemicals, and has the potential to produce safe therapeutic cells from stem cells. In addition, the TTF proteins are naturally eliminated by the cells when no longer required, a characteristic that further improves safety. The Company intends that this technology, once perfected, will first be used to create revenue-generating research products for sale through Lifeline Cell Technologys international distribution channels to the academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical markets for cellular proteins, including the quickly growing markets for the study of stem cell biology and drug testing. According to Jeffrey Janus, Lifeline Cell Technologys CEO, These proteins can be sold into the market for cellular proteins which exceeds $700 million and represents an … Continue reading →