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StemCells gets OK for brain cells study |
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Thursday, 20 October 2005 |
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From Associated Press StemCells Inc. said Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration cleared it to start a human trial using transplanted human neural stem cells, the first time the agency has approved such a study. The company's stock rose 33 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $5.18 in morning trading on the Nasdaq. The biotech firm focuses on finding therapeutic uses for stem cells -- early-stage cells that can renew themselves and specialize into specific cell types. The Phase I trial will study the use of these cells to treat a rare nervous system disorder called Batten disease, StemCells said. The fatal disease occurs when a certain fats and proteins build up in the body's tissue. It emerges in childhood, starting with vision problems and seizures, then progresses to motor and mental problems, according to the National Institutes of Health. Sufferers usually don't survive past their late teens or twenties. Stem Cells said the neural stem cells are a rare subset of brain cells that are isolated from a human fetal brain, then grown and processed before being frozen in cell banks that the company uses to make doses of its therapy, called HuCNS-SC. The company said these cells should help patients' brains produce enzymes that children with Batten disease are usually missing.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 30 October 2005 )
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