A clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a stem cell product injected directly into the brain to treat chronic motor deficits from ischemic stroke has begun at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

McGovern Medical School at UTHealth is the only site in Texas and the central south portion of the country to open enrollment for the multi-institutional, phase 2B study the first in the U.S. for chronic stroke. Surgeries will be conducted at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.

In the double-blind, sham-surgery controlled study, patients randomized to the study intervention will receive a stem cell product made by SanBio and patients must have chronic motor deficits from an ischemic stroke to be eligible for the study. The product, administered through tiny holes bored into the skull and placed near the site of the damage, came from the bone marrow of two healthy adult donors. Enrollment is limited to patients who are between six and 60 months post-stroke and have a chronic motor neurological deficit.

Results of a phase 1/2A study of the stem cell product, presented at the International Society of Stem Cell Research Meeting and published in the journal, Stroke, showed statistically significant improvements in motor function and no safety concerns.

The program was the first Comprehensive Stroke Center in the state certified by The Joint Commission and launched the first mobile stroke unit in the country. It has one of the largest telemedicine programs and is affiliated with Memorial Hermann Mischer Neuroscience Institute at the Texas Medical Center.

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Stem cell trial for stroke patients suffering chronic motor deficits begins at UTHealth - Chron.com