Stem Cell Clinic

Two Delhi centres ready to try stem cell therapy on paraplegics

By Uncategorized

Ahead of a planned five-centre nationwide trial, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a special project at the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi where stem cell therapy will be conducted on complete paraplegics and quadriplegics to try and revive limb function.

A similar trial will be conducted at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in Vasant Kunj, south-west Delhi where 21 patients have already been registered. This project too has been approved by the ICMR.

Senior ICMR scientists from the apex committee to monitor stem cell research said the five-centre trial will be coordinated from ISIC and is in the final stages of approval.

This will be the first national ICMR trial of autologous bone marrow stem cell transplant on complete quadriplegics and paraplegics. We are finalising the number of patients. The ISIC will be the coordinating centre. The next meeting has been scheduled for December 4, a senior scientist said.

An autologous stem cell transplantation is a procedure in which stem cells are removed, stored and returned to the same person.

For its project, the AIIMS Trauma Centre has registered eight patients. They will be injected with stem cells from their own bone marrow to see if the damaged neurological function can be regenerated. Doctors have cautioned that earlier trials on incomplete quadriplegics and paraplegics have not suggested significant clinical improvement.

Dr Deepak Aggarwal, associate professor of neurosurgery at the AIIMS Trauma Centre who is coordinating the study, said: We have necessary clearances from our internal ethics committee and the national apex committee for stem cell research and therapy which has members from the ICMR and Department of Biotechnology.

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Two Delhi centres ready to try stem cell therapy on paraplegics

Deftones' Chi Cheng's family consider stem cell therapy to aid recovery

By Uncategorized

November 25, 2012 12:54

Former bassist is said to be still in a "partially conscious state" four years on from car accident

Photo: Tom Oxley/NME

Former Deftones bassist Chi Cheng's family are considering stem cell therapy to aid his recovery from a car accident which put him in a coma in 2008.

Cheng is said to be in a "partially conscious state" and is unable to speak, although he can move his legs on command. The bassist has been in and out of hospitals over the past four years and only got home to recover in June this year.

Now, according to Revolver Magazine, the family is considering alternative therapy in order to speed up Cheng's recovery, as they say the last few months have been a struggle for him.

His brother, Ming Cheng, said: "Once his health gets a little better, we'll start looking into other options... but they don't even do it [stem cell therapy] in the US yet.

"It's a miracle he's still with us," he added. "He's alive and kicking and he's fighting, and I think there's a reason for it. I'm hoping there's a light at the end of the tunnel for Chi."

Deftones released their new album 'Koi No Yokan' on November 12. You can stream the new record, which features 'Entomb (Dazzle)', 'Swerve City', 'Graphic Nature', 'Goon Squad' and 'Leathers', below.

The band tour the UK in 2013. They will play five dates, kicking off at Glasgow's Barrowland on February 15, before heading to Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and finishing at London's 02 Brixton Academy (20).

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Deftones' Chi Cheng's family consider stem cell therapy to aid recovery

NeoStem to Present at Piper Jaffray 24th Annual Healthcare Conference

By Uncategorized

NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeoStem, Inc. (NYSE MKT:NBS) ("NeoStem" or the "Company"), an emerging leader in the fast growing cell therapy industry, today announced that Company management has been invited to present at the Piper Jaffray 24th Annual Healthcare Conference.

About NeoStem, Inc.

NeoStem, Inc. continues to develop and build on its core capabilities in cell therapy, capitalizing on the paradigm shift that we see occurring in medicine. In particular, we anticipate that cell therapy will have a significant role in the fight against chronic disease and in lessening the economic burden that these diseases pose to modern society. We are emerging as a technology and market leading company in this fast developing cell therapy market. Our multi-faceted business strategy combines a state-of-the-art contract development and manufacturing subsidiary, Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC ("PCT"), with a medically important cell therapy product development program, enabling near and long-term revenue growth opportunities. We believe this expertise and existing research capabilities and collaborations will enable us to achieve our mission of becoming a premier cell therapy company.

Our contract development and manufacturing service business supports the development of proprietary cell therapy products. NeoStem's most clinically advanced therapeutic, AMR-001, is being developed at Amorcyte, LLC ("Amorcyte"), which we acquired in October 2011. Amorcyte is developing a cell therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and is enrolling patients in a Phase 2 trial to investigate AMR-001's efficacy in preserving heart function after a heart attack. Athelos Corporation ("Athelos"), which is approximately 80%-owned by our subsidiary, PCT, is collaborating with Becton-Dickinson in the early clinical exploration of a T-cell therapy for autoimmune conditions. In addition, pre-clinical assets include our VSELTM Technology platform as well as our mesenchymal stem cell product candidate for regenerative medicine. Our service business and pipeline of proprietary cell therapy products work in concert, giving us a competitive advantage that we believe is unique to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Supported by an experienced scientific and business management team and a substantial intellectual property estate, we believe we are well positioned to succeed.

For more information on NeoStem, please visit http://www.neostem.com.

Forward-Looking Statements for NeoStem, Inc.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the successful execution of the Company's business strategy, including with respect to the Company's or its partners' successful development of AMR-001 and other cell therapeutics, the size of the market for such products, its competitive position in such markets, the Company's ability to successfully penetrate such markets and the market for its contract development and manufacturing business, and the efficacy of protection from its patent portfolio, as well as the future of the cell therapeutics industry in general, including the rate at which such industry may grow. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to matters described under the "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 20, 2012 and in the Company's other periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available on its website. The Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements. The Company's further development is highly dependent on future medical and research developments and market acceptance, which is outside its control.

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NeoStem to Present at Piper Jaffray 24th Annual Healthcare Conference

Unproven stem cell treatments pose risks

By Stem Cell Treatment

UNPROVEN stem cell treatments behind an increase in international 'stem cell tourism' are not just proliferating overseas.

Similar treatments, without any medical evidence of their effectiveness or safety, are emerging in our own backyard, Australian stem cell experts warn.

Professor Megan Munsie and Dr Dominique Martin, from the University of Melbourne, said just because the treatments were offered in Australia and were not illegal did not mean they were safe.

Prof Munsie, a stem cell scientist who heads the education, ethics, law & community awareness unit at Stem Cell Australia at the university, said she had received more than 500 patient inquiries over the past year about experimental stem cell therapies offered in Australia and overseas.

Most of the inquiries about so-called stem cell treatments offered in Australia related to osteoarthritis, but patients were also querying treatments for spinal cord injury, blindness, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and autism, Prof Munsie said.

"It used to be that people with the same conditions would call about overseas treatments, but what I'm seeing now is that more and more people are asking about treatments here," Prof Munsie told AAP.

"Because it's happening here and it's not illegal, people think it must be safe.

"I'm not convinced it is safe, nor effective," she said.

While a handful of clinical trials are underway for a range of stem cell treatments, the only proven medical treatment using stem cells is bone marrow transplants for blood diseases including leukaemia, which have been used for about 40 years.

Treatments offered for osteoarthritis in Australia claim to use stem cells extracted from adipose tissue, or fat, using liposuction, which are then injected back into the patient.

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Unproven stem cell treatments pose risks

Whatever happened to? Bonita stem cell doctor's case moves to decision stage

By Stem Cell Treatment

Photo by Allie Garza

Zannos Grekos

Editor's note: The Daily News takes an occasional look back at people and issues that have been in the local news, though not lately. Have an idea? Post it below this story at naplesnews.com or call (239) 435-3457 and leave a brief message.

NAPLES There's been more legal wrangling since a state hearing last month to address Dr. Zannos Grekos' stem cell practice and if he committed medical malpractice or not.

A few issues were left unresolved after the four-day hearing that was held in Naples, including whether videotaped testimony of a state Department of Health witness would be admitted for the administrative law judge to consider.

Grekos' attorney, Richard Ozelie, of Boca Raton, sought to have the testimony of the witness stricken based on issues of how he arrived at his medical opinion in the case and related matters. The witness is Dr. Thomas Freeman, a professor of neurosurgery, molecular pharmacology and physiology with the University of South Florida's College of Medicine in Tampa.

In a Nov. 15 order, Administrative Law Judge J. Lawrence Johnston ruled that the witness' testimony would be allowed.

State health regulators last year restricted Grekos' license and forbid him to do anything with stem cells after a 69-year-old patient, Domenica Fitzgerald, died in 2010 shortly after undergoing a stem cell therapy in his practice in Bonita Springs.

Grekos had extracted bone marrow from her and infused her unfiltered bone marrow into her circulatory system in hopes of alleviating nerve damage in her feet, which was limiting her mobility. The nerve damage was a side effect from chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment several years earlier. After the stem cell procedure, she suffered brain damage and was hospitalized. She later was taken off life support.

In February, the state fully suspended Grekos' license after he and another physician, Dr. Konstantine Yankopolus, performed a similar stem cell therapy on a 77-year-old man, Richard Poling, who went into cardiac arrest in Grekos' practice and later died at a local hospital. A joint administrative hearing for both doctors will be held in that case, tentatively in February, but a motion is pending for a continuation.

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Whatever happened to? Bonita stem cell doctor's case moves to decision stage

Research and Markets: Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report

By Stem Cell Treatment

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4tdv84/complete_201213) has announced the addition of the "Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report" report to their offering.

Stem cell research and experimentation has been in process for well over five decades. Stem cells have the unique characteristics whereby they are able to divide and replicate repeatedly in addition to their being unspecialized with the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. The possibilities that arise with the perfecting of cell replication has caused this area of exploration to remain on the forefront of scientific research, with ongoing hope that cures and treatment of diseases as well as reparative cell therapy, tissue regeneration and pharmacological testing on cell-specific tissue will one day become viable options within the medical community.

Diseases such as Huntington's Chorea, Parkinson's Disease, and spinal cord injuries are just some examples of potential clinical applications where stem cells can offer potential benefits in halting or even reversing medical conditions that previously had no positive outcome potential - and induced pluripotent stem cells represent a preferred cell type for this type of disease reversal research.

Traditionally, scientists have worked with both embryonic and adult stem cells. While the appeal of embryonic cells has been their ability to differentiate into any type of cell, there has been significant ethical, moral and spiritual controversy surrounding the use of embryonic cells for research. Although adult stem cells can differentiate slightly, they are typically limited to differentiation within their original tissue type, creating narrow options for their use.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this report are the breakthrough findings discovered as a result of surveying 293 researchers that identify as having induced pluripotent stem cells as their core research focus. Of the 293 respondents, 181 were U.S. based and 112 were international. These key survey findings reveal iPSC researcher wants and needs, technical preferences, and key factors influencing buying decisions. These vital findings can be used to direct the product development and product positioning decisions. Remember, to benefit from this lucrative product market, you need to anticipate and serve the needs of your clients, or your competitors will.

Key Topics Covered:

I. Abstract

II. Background

III. Timeline

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Research and Markets: Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report

Stem cell treatment allows Brian to take first steps on road to recovery

By Stem Cell Treatment

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

Friday, November 23, 2012

A Limerick quantity surveyor left blind and paralysed after a brutal assault, has taken the first steps from his wheelchair following stem cell treatment in China.

Brian Hogan, 35, was working in Nottingham in Jul 2009, when on a night out with friends, he was knocked to the ground without provocation, hitting his head on the pavement.

When an ambulance was called, he declined help. Some time later that night his condition deteriorated rapidly. When he came out of a coma, some weeks later, he was left blind and paralysed.

On his discharge from hospital in England, Brians parents and siblings gave him round-the-clock care at the family home in Ballykeeffe Estate, in Limerick.

His sister Siobhn Hogan said: "We did a lot of research and discovered a clinic in Bejing which offered stem cell infusions.

"It is a controversial treatment, but we decided Brian should have the opportunity to see if it could help him."

Now after the treatment, Brians family have seen a dramatic improvement in his condition.

"We were all teary-eyed last Tuesday when we watched him walk for a few steps after being helped out of the wheelchair," Siobhn said.

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Stem cell treatment allows Brian to take first steps on road to recovery

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