Latest News
October 9, 2011
Intel co-founder Andrew Grove gives keynote at World Stem Cell Summit in Pasadena
Getting a new molecular entity (NME) through FDA approval is much like the task of building the Great Pyramid, Grove said, comparing the adjusted $1 billion it took to erect the ancient monument to the estimated $1.5 billion and just as many years it typically takes to get FDA approval for a new drug. Instead of moving forward, he reasoned, the industry has regressed – with rising average development time for NMEs and a higher attrition rate. READ FULL ARTICLE
April 21, 2011
Newspaper profiles first spinal cord patient to get UCI stem cell treatment
When Timothy Atchinson was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident last September, he accepted an offer to be the initial participant in the world’s first clinical trial of a human embyronic stem cell-based treatment for damaged spinal cord tissue. The treatment was created in the lab of Hans Keirstead, a neurobiologist with the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UC Irvine. Atchinson, a 21-year-old nursing student in Alabama, was treated at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta – one of seven centers recruited by Geron Corp., a Menlo Park, Calif., biotechnology company sponsoring the trial on 10 patients. Now, months after the treatment – in which about 2 million cells were transplanted into his injured spinal cord – he is beginning to feel some very slight sensation in his legs. Atchinson shared his story with The Washington Post. “This is awesome news,” said Keirstead. “Timothy is a true pioneer, and we’re excited and hopeful that this is the first step toward a stem cell-based treatment for the thousands of Americans who suffer spinal cord injuries each year.” READ ARTICLE
March 14, 2011
StemCells, Inc. Initiates World’s First Neural Stem Cell Trial in Spinal Cord Injury
StemCells, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEM) announced today the initiation of a Phase I/II clinical trial of its proprietary HuCNS-SC(R) human neural stem cells in chronic spinal cord injury. This trial is now open for enrollment, and will accrue patients with both complete and incomplete degrees of paralysis who are three to 12 months post-injury. The trial is being conducted in Switzerland at the Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, a world leading medical center for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation, and is being led by Armin Curt, MD, Professor and Chairman, Spinal Cord Injury Center at the University of Zurich, and Medical Director of the Paraplegic Center at the Balgrist University Hospital. READ FULL ARTICLE
January 15, 2011
Blood cell shortage could be solved via new stem cell breakthrough
A recent breakthrough via stem cell research has provided hope for cancer patients, organ transplant patients and others. Experts have said that the discovery could mean that a vital agent for blood clotting derived from stem cells could be used to treat patients undergoing an organ transplant or chemotherapy. Platelets, which are the body’s natural blood clotters, could be developed via embryonic stem cells and provided to aid patients that have a shortage due to certain conditions and diseases. READ FULL ARTICLE
January 4, 2011
Stem cell research may explain male pattern baldness
Stem cells have provided insight into heart disease, cancer and other serious diseases. Now, it seems, they may have something to tell us about the scourge of male pattern baldness. A new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, finds that hair loss may be driven not by the loss of stem cells, but rather by the depletion of a more mature cell type called progenitors. READ FULL ARTICLE
January 2, 2011:
Could Stem Cells Help this Boy to See?
An inherited degenerative disease robbed Ryan Rapoport, 10, of his vision in seven quick months. But the Seattle fifth-grader now sees hope on the horizon: After several years of scrutiny, the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to a California biotech company to use human embryonic stem cells as a treatment for the disease that robbed Ryan of his sight. Only the second company to be approved to use embryonic stem cells in a clinical trial, Santa Monica’s Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) expects to begin testing the treatment as early as February, said the company’s chief scientific officer Dr. Robert Lanza. READ FULL ARTICLE
December 11, 2010:
Selling CELL-ebrity
They’re not wearing their white lab coats nor peering into microscopes, but the dozen stem-cell researchers featured in this calendar can easily be considered the pinups in their fields. They spend lots of time on a science that promises to save lives. The 2011 CELLebrity Doctors calendar is the brainchild of the Miami Beach-based Sabrina Cohen Foundation for Stem Cell Research. On sale for $18, the fundraising calendar includes three local researchers… READ FULL ARTICLE
October 11, 2010:
First embryonic stem cell treatment trial on spinal cord injury
A California bio-tech company has begun testing an embryonic stem-cell drug treatment on a patient with spinal cord injuries, marking the first time a drug made with embryonic stem cells has been used on a human. The patient was enrolled at Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta. READ FULL ARTICLE
March 16, 2010:
Stem Cell, New Treatment
CBS Evening News: Where America stands on Stem Cell Research. Since President Obama loosened restrictions on stem cell research, doctors are hoping to offer new treatments for everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Dr. Jon Lapook reports. READ FULL ARTICLE
Detroit News, 2010
