Stem Cell Clinic

Stem cell cures bring challenges

A world-renowned Australian stem cell expert says it's crucial that any potential cures using the technology are available globally, particularly in developing countries.

Professor Alan Trounson heads the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which is advancing towards a cure for conditions including HIV and diabetes.

Prof Trounson, the former director of Monash Immunology and Stem Cell Laboratories in Melbourne, said the research institute's work towards a HIV cure was about to enter human trials.

He said if the trials were successful further research would be needed to modify the technology so it could be affordably used where it is needed most, in Africa.

'I want the HIV work to go globally because it shouldn't be restricted to patients in Western (countries),' Prof Trounson told AAP.

'We're going to have to modify some of that further research to get it into a suitable treatment that we can use in Africa.

'I'm very hopeful that the industry will do that.

'We have to try and make these as available to people as possible.'

Prof Trounson said the HIV research uses blood stem cells to mimic a gene mutation found in a small proportion of the population who are immune to the virus.

The approach is based on the case of an American, known as the Berlin patient, who was cured of HIV after receiving a life-saving bone marrow transplant to treat leukaemia from a donor who carried the HIV-immune mutation.

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Stem cell cures bring challenges

Research and Markets: Stem Cell Research in India 2012

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t2whtl/stem_cell_research) has announced the addition of the "Stem Cell Research in India 2012" report to their offering.

The stem cell research in India is in its nascent stage and is gradually on a growth path of acceptance by people. The market is still in a phase of conducting research to establish itself as one of the best therapies for the widely prevalent incurable lifestyle diseases. Awareness campaigns and doctors are playing a key role educating people and especially would-be parents about the benefits associated with preserving stem cells.

The report begins with the introduction section which offers a brief insight of the concept of stem cell therapy and banking, the conventional sources of stem cells and the current and future therapeutic solutions for the most risky diseases. It then moves to the market overview section which provides an insight of the Indian stem cell therapy market, with highlight on the market size and growth. It also covers the market size and growth prospect of the stem cell banking market in India. In addition to these, the report gives a snapshot of the current and expected stem cell banking customers.

An analysis of the drivers explains the factors for growth of the industry that include favourable regulatory environment, high patient population, stem cell application in drug development, rising consumer awareness, a rise in medical tourism and an increase in research and development expenditure to ensure stem cell therapy as a viable treatment for the numerous diseases. The key challenges include high cost of therapy, capital intensive market and high development costs of stem cell resulting in slow progress of the market.

Companies Mentioned

- Cyrobanks International India Private Limited

- LifeCell International Private Limited

- Pathcare Labs (P) Limited

- Reliance Life Sciences Private Limited

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Research and Markets: Stem Cell Research in India 2012

FDA approves clinical trials for new stem cell therapy for heart attack patients

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A scientist holds a tray of stem cells.

Federal authorities have given the go-ahead to human trials that will use a new stem cell treatment to repair heart attack damage.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles led the study into this new stem-cell-based treatment that helps to repair damage that cardiac arrest inflicts on heart muscle.

While preliminary therapies derived from a patients own cells have shown to reduce heart attack scarring, this new therapy would treat victims with human stem cells that are mass-replicated in a lab.

Research into the new therapy was supported by a $5.5 million grant from CIRM the California stem cell agency that was created by voter-approved Proposition 71. This success marks the first time research by a CIRM-funded disease team has resulted in the FDA approving a potential new drug for clinical trials in humans.

Researchers say that, if its ultimately approved by the FDA, the new therapy could help the hundreds of thousands of Americans who each year have heart attacks.

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FDA approves clinical trials for new stem cell therapy for heart attack patients

Stem Cell Transplant Recipients – Rabbit Antibodies Help Leukemia Patients

Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Lymphoma / Leukemia / Myeloma Also Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations Article Date: 11 Jul 2012 - 0:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Stem Cell Transplant Recipients - Rabbit Antibodies Help Leukemia Patients

During the study, led by Amir Toor, M.D., hematologist-oncologist in the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and member of the Developmental Therapeutics program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, researchers viewed the outcomes of 48 patients who received a transplant of stem cells from a related donor to the outcomes of 50 patients who alternatively received rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) before being given a transplant of stem cells from an unrelated donor.

This study has been published in Bone Marrow Transplantation

The results showed similar outcomes for both groups in terms of relapse, mortality, and development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a common occurrence that can happen when a transplant is inserted and the new material clashes with the recipient's body.

When the patients were followed up at 35 months, 50% of the ATG group and 63% of the no ATG group were still alive. Generally, unrelated stem cell transplants typically have significantly poorer outcomes.

Toor says:

Thus, being able to provide improved outcomes using stem cell transplants from unrelated donors offers many blood cancer patients the chance of longer survival.

The results of this particular study showed no survival differences between the two groups, regardless of diagnosis or age.

Incidences of GVHD and relapse rates were also seen to be similar. Transplants using unrelated stem cell donors are generally considered high-risk treatments because of previous reports of disease relapse and GVHD. Also noticed were the higher rate of infections in patients who received the highest rate of ATG, but that risk disappeared in patients with a lower level of ATG.

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Stem Cell Transplant Recipients - Rabbit Antibodies Help Leukemia Patients

Mesoblast Interview: The Best Adult Stem Cell Technology In The World?

Mesoblast (MSB.AX) (OTC:MEOBF) CEO Silviu Itesu speaks on his company`s adult stem cell technology, particularly mesenchymal precursor cells, and the low-cost manufacturing capabilities that the technology implies. Itesu discusses development compound Revascor for use in congestive heart failure and details the latest Phase II results. In 60 patients the drug saw no adverse events and a 0% event rate (hospital visits, mortality) compared to 20% in a control group; the company is planning to initiate a 1500-patient Phase III study in the coming few months. The trials are funded entirely by Teva (TEVA), says Itesu, but the company`s financial situation would allow for a few years of `solo` operation.

Itesu briefly compares Mesoblast`s production strategies to those of Dendreon`s (DNDN) Provenge, and explains how Mesoblast`s production will be significantly less expensive. The conversation also covers two more pipeline products, a Type-2 diabetes treatment and an intervertebral disc treatment, both of which have shown promising results in Phase II studies.

Click Here to view our video interview of Mesoblast CEO Silviu Itesu.

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Mesoblast Interview: The Best Adult Stem Cell Technology In The World?

First case of alleged stem-cell fraud enters US courts

The days of "stem-cell tourism" could be numbered. Six residents of Los Angeles, California, are suing South Korean company RNL Bio and associates in a Californian court for alleged fraud. They claim the company convinced them to travel to clinics in South Korea, China or Mexico to donate fat tissue and have stem cells from it re-administered to cure diseases and even reverse ageing.

Stem cells hold great medical promise, but only one treatment is licensed in the US and that is for a rare blood disorder. Others are experimental and it is illegal to offer them commercially. Yet some companies still tout stem-cell "cures" that are carried out outside the US. RNL Bio calls its fat-tissue stem cells "safe technologies" for treating various disorders.

There have been protests against these treatments for years, but this is the first civil lawsuit for damages, says Paul Knoepfler of the University of California at Davis. It "serves notice to the purveyors of unproven stem-cell treatments" that they may face litigation if they market in the US, says Bernard Siegel of the Genetics Policy Institute, a stem-cell watchdog in Palm Beach, Florida.

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First case of alleged stem-cell fraud enters US courts

Arthritis stem cell jab 'could ease pain for millions'

Stem cells taken from stomach fat and used to regenerate knee tissue Charity chief says therapy potentially 'transformational'

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 05:15 EST, 10 July 2012 | UPDATED: 08:23 EST, 10 July 2012

An injection of stem cells taken from body fat could one day help patients recover from crippling osteoarthritis.

The treatment, which has been successfully trialled on animals, helps the body regrow tissue and cartilage that has been damaged by the degenerative condition.

Although still at an experimental stage, experts say the therapy could be 'transformational' for the six million people in the UK who suffer from the condition.

Osteoarthritis occurs when there is damage in and around a joint which the body cannot repair

Early results suggest the treatment, from Australian company Regeneus, could delay the need for joint repair by 10 or 20 years. There is the possibility that it could stop the disease's progression altogether if caught early.

Judith Brodie, chief executive of Arthritis Care, told Mail Online: 'This new stem cell therapy, if the trials continue to show success, could be transformational.

'While the long-term effects are unknown, and there should be caution due to the early stage of development, Arthritis Care welcomes progress in treating this painful condition.'

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Arthritis stem cell jab 'could ease pain for millions'

Fort Myers doctor reaching settlement with state in stem cell patient's death

K.K.Yankopolus

Photo by Allie Garza

Dr. Zannos Grekos, a cardiologist whose practice is in Bonita Springs, speaks with a seminar attendant after one of his educational seminars about stem cell treatment, using one's own stem cells, for treating heart disease and other medical conditions, on Monday, March 14, 2011, at the Collier County Library. Allie Garza/Staff

FORT MYERS A Fort Myers physician whose license was restricted for his involvement in a controversial stem cell treatment on a patient who died has a settlement in the works with state regulators.

Terms of the deal between Dr. Konstantine Yankopolus and the Florida Department of Health weren't immediately available Monday.

"It's in draft form," said Yankopolus' attorney, Steven Ramunni, of Fort Myers.

Yankopolus said Monday he expects the restriction on his license to be lifted soon.

"I want to stay in the world of service," he said. "Let's move on."

An obstetrician for years before switching to a general practice, Yankopolus assisted Dr. Zannos Grekos, a Bonita Springs cardiologist, on March 2 in a stem cell procedure on a 77-year-old Indiana man. The patient, Richard Poling, came to Grekos for stem cell treatment against his pulmonary hypertension.

Grekos accepted the patient even though he was under a 2011 state order not to do anything with stem cells or bone marrow aspirate in his Bonita Springs practice. The order came after the death of a breast cancer patient treated by Grekos, who had developed a following for sending patients to the Dominican Republic for stem cell procedures for their chronic medical conditions.

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Fort Myers doctor reaching settlement with state in stem cell patient's death