UC Irvine News Brief: UCI-created stem cell therapy is basis of groundbreaking proposed trial

StemCells Inc. has filed an application with Swissmedic, the Swiss regulatory agency for therapeutic products, to conduct the world’s first clinical trial of a human neural stem cell-based therapy in chronic spinal cord injury patients. Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings of the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center at UCI collaborated with StemCells Inc. to develop the therapy, in which purified human neural stem cells introduced into the spinal column grow into neural tissue cells that migrate to spinal cord injury sites. Previously, Anderson and Cummings published studies showing how the therapy restored mobility in mice during the later chronic phase of spinal cord injury, in which inflammation has stabilized and recovery has reached a plateau. If authorized, the Switzerland-based study will enroll patients who are three to 12 months post-injury.