Good news, especially us that are complete and many years post
injury!Derrick c/5 in PA
StemCells Reports Positive Response in Spinal-Cord Study
Last update: 2/12/2013 8:00:49 AM
By Ben Fox Rubin
StemCells Inc. (STEM) said a Phase I/II study on the use of its neural
stem cells in chronic spinal cord injury showed a favorable safety
profile and noted that considerable gains in sensory function in two of
the three patients have persisted.
"While we need to be cautious when interpreting data from a small,
uncontrolled trial, to our knowledge, this is the first time a patient
with a complete spinal cord injury has been converted to a patient with
an incomplete injury following transplantation of neural stem cells,"
Chief Executive Martin McGlynn said.
Shares jumped 25% premarket to $2.05. As of Monday's close, the stock
was down 7.1% over the past three months.
The development-stage company works on stem-cell therapies as well as
technologies for stem-cell research. Late last year, the company said it
transplanted neural stem cells into its first patient with dry
age-related macular degeneration.
At the 12-month stage of its spinal-cord study, StemCells said sensory
function gains observed at six months in two out of three patients
persisted. The third patient remains stable.
"While much more clinical research needs to be done to demonstrate
efficacy, the types of changes we are observing are unexpected and very
encouraging given that these are patients in the chronic stage of
complete spinal injury," said Armin Curt, chairman of the Spinal Cord
Injury Center at Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, and
principal investigator of the clinical trial.
The trial is set to have 12 total patients, and the company has already
transplanted cells in the first three patients.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.ru...@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 12, 2013 08:00 ET (13:00 GMT)
