StemCell Therapy

Kolkata, May 15:

Stem cell banking companies are looking at aggressive marketing initiatives to move into the mass market segment. Direct marketing to customers and reduction in price tag for storing umbilical cord blood are on the cards.

The umbilical cord blood and cord tissue are one of the richest sources of stem cells and have potential to treat over 75 serious ailments.

The average cost for storing these for a period of 21 years ranges between Rs 75,000 and Rs 90,000 in India.

According to Chennai-based Life Cell, high price points and lack of proper marketing have limited the penetration of cord blood banking in India. Affordability is the key factor in India.

Only when the prices come down will we see more customers opting for the service. We are working on it (bringing down prices), Mr Mayur Abhaya Srisrimal, Executive Director Life Cell, told Business Line.

Stem cell bankers have already rolled out easy finance options such as EMIs to make the services attractive. CordLife, for instance, offers EMI facility for 12-24 months.

This has helped boost our sales. We have been acquiring 350-400 clients each month, said Managing Director, Mr Meghnath Roy Chowdhury.

Finance, however, is not the only stumbling block. Cord blood bankers have, so far, been depending largely on hospital network for signing up clients. Bangalore-based Ms Deepa Shankar, who is expecting and is due for delivery in June, recently opted for Life Cell services through the hospital.

It's not a sustainable approach. We need to get into direct marketing for pushing up volumes growth, Mr Srisrimal points out. To strike a cord with the would-be mothers, the company has roped in Lisa Ray as brand ambassador. Ms Ray was cured of multiple myeloma courtesy stem cell therapy.

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Stem cell banking firms to deploy marketing initiatives to boost sales

Veterinarians hope a new medical procedure can treat a 25-year-old chimpanzee with a torn ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, at the "Save the Chimps" in Florida.

The procedure involves injecting the chimp with her own stem cells.

"With chimps we don't want to do a lot of surgical work, put hardware in their knee, they tend to pull out that sort of thing," said Veterinarian Linda Gregard, M.D.

Dr. Darrell Nazareth with the Florida Veterinary League has been using stem cells to treat dogs with arthritis for the past two years, but this is his first chimp.

"We're not using embryonic stem cells, we're not taking embryos and taking their stem cells from there. We're just using the patient's own tissue," said Dr. Nazareth.

The technology harnesses the bodies own ability to heal itself and doctors hope it could find wider use in humans.

After injecting two billion stem cells into Angie's knee, doctors will find out in the next two to three weeks if the stem cell therapy treatment was successful.

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Stem cell therapy to treat a chimp's torn ACL may prove beneficial for humans

By Cathy C. Yamsuan Philippine Daily Inquirer

Former President Joseph Erap Estrada had always maintained that giving generously to friends and forgiving opponents are the secrets to staying young.

But time has a way of catching up with even the most formidable leading men.

Since he entered national politics 25 years ago, Estrada has struggled with the attributes of old ageweight gain, a painful knee here, a cataract there.

He needed some kind of elixir of youth to put to right what nature has put asunder. And to get back on his feet in time to serve the people, he said which has no age limit.

So he did it, and is very open about it. What is it?

At the prodding of friends, the 75-year-old Estrada flew to Frankfurt, Germany, last month to undergo fresh cell therapy (also known as stem cell treatment), an innovative albeit controversial procedure where fresh cells from donor animals are injected into the human body to treat diseases or reverse the aging process.

Fresh cell therapy operates under the principle of like heals like.

The fresh cells from a donor animals organ are infused into the human counterpart.

Substances in the donors blood are supposed to reactivate the human bodys immune system and defense mechanism, a reaction that would eventually rebuild and revitalize aging tissues.

See the article here:
Joseph Estrada defies age, shares how he did it: Stem cell therapy

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Former President and current Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was suffering from a mineral deficiency in her bones arising from two corrective surgeries last September, wanted to seek alternative stem cell therapy abroad.

However, she was barred from leaving the country last November after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima refused to honor the temporary restraining order issued by the high court on the inclusion of Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Mike Arroyo in the immigration bureaus watch list.

In the wake of Arroyos supposed plan to try the radical technology at stem cell centers abroad to cure what her doctors here described as a rare bone disease, a province mate and a colleague of the former President filed a bill to put up a stem cell center in the country.

Pampanga Rep. Carmelo F. Lazatin, a member of the minority bloc in Congress, has filed House Bill No. 5287 mandating the establishment of a research facility to explore the benefits of stem cell technology as a potential cure for incurable diseases.

Blank cells

Stem cells, the foundation of every organ, tissue and cell within the human body, are like blank cells that do not yet have a specific physiological function, according to Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI).

But when proper conditions in the body or in the laboratory occur, stem cells develop into specialized tissues and organs, HSCI explains in its website, adding that there are two sources of stem cells used in research: the adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells.

Adult stem cells are found in differentiated tissues and organs throughout the body while embryonic stem cells are obtained from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, the ball of cells formed when the fertilized egg or zygote divides and forms two cells, then again to form four and so on, HSCI said.

In 2008, the Vatican issued a sweeping document on bioethical issues titled Dignitas Personae or The Dignity of the Person, taking into account recent developments in biomedical technology and reinforcing the Churchs opposition to embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, human cloning and genetic testing on embryos before implantation.

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In The Know: Stem cell therapy

"In January 2012, we submitted two
applications to the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM) for 'Disease Team Therapy Development Research Awards,' one
for Alzheimer's disease and one for cervical spinal cord injury. A
research award may be up to $20 million, payable over four years, to
fund preclinical and IND-enabling activities with the aim of starting
human clinical trials within a four-year window."

Source:
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Source:
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 "Saira's
extensive experience in global healthcare investment banking and
strategic advisory consulting will bring valuable financial,
commercial assessment and business development skills to our board."

Compensation for Sangamo directors in 2011 ranged from $75,000 to $35,000 for those who served a full year plus stock options. 

Sangamo is sharing
in a $14.5 million, four-year grant from CIRM with the City of Hope
in Los Angeles dealing with an AIDS- related lymphoma therapy. The
grant was approved in 2009. Sangamo expects to receive $5.2 million from the grant if it runs for the full four years. As of the end of 2011, the firm has received $2.4 million, according to its financial documents. In March, Ellen Feigal, CIRM senior vice
president for research and development, said the effort is due for an
evaluation late this year.  Earlier this year, CIRM terminated one $19 million grant in the same round after it failed to meet milestones.

Source:
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"In January 2012, we submitted two
applications to the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM) for 'Disease Team Therapy Development Research Awards,' one
for Alzheimer's disease and one for cervical spinal cord injury. A
research award may be up to $20 million, payable over four years, to
fund preclinical and IND-enabling activities with the aim of starting
human clinical trials within a four-year window."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

 "Saira's
extensive experience in global healthcare investment banking and
strategic advisory consulting will bring valuable financial,
commercial assessment and business development skills to our board."

Compensation for Sangamo directors in 2011 ranged from $75,000 to $35,000 for those who served a full year plus stock options. 

Sangamo is sharing
in a $14.5 million, four-year grant from CIRM with the City of Hope
in Los Angeles dealing with an AIDS- related lymphoma therapy. The
grant was approved in 2009. Sangamo expects to receive $5.2 million from the grant if it runs for the full four years. As of the end of 2011, the firm has received $2.4 million, according to its financial documents. In March, Ellen Feigal, CIRM senior vice
president for research and development, said the effort is due for an
evaluation late this year.  Earlier this year, CIRM terminated one $19 million grant in the same round after it failed to meet milestones.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Wed May 9, 2012 3:35pm BST

(Reuters) - Pluristem Therapeutics Inc said a 7-year old girl suffering from a bone marrow disease experienced a reversal of her condition after receiving its experimental stem cell therapy, sending the Israeli company's shares up 32 percent.

The girl, suffering from aplastic bone marrow in which the patient has no blood-forming stem cells, had a significant rise in her red cells, white cells and platelets following an injection of Pluristem's therapy -- PLacental eXpanded cells.

"The results of this unique case indicate that PLX cells may be effective in treating other diseases that affect the bone marrow," Reuven Or, the child's physician at Hadassah Medical Center, was quoted in a statement by Pluristem.

Last September, the company said animal studies showed that the therapy had the potential to treat blood tissue complications related with acute radiation syndrome, commonly called radiation sickness.

Last month, the U.S. health regulators gave a go ahead to the company to start a mid-stage trial of the therapy for treating Intermittent Claudication -- a subset of peripheral artery disease.

Pluristem shares, which have gained 5 percent since receiving the FDA nod for the mid-stage trial, were up 15 percent at $2.70 in morning trade on the Nasdaq. They touched a high of $3.10 earlier.

(Reporting by Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

Originally posted here:
Pluristem stem cell therapy saves a patient, shares jump

LEBANON Retired Dartmouth College professor Roger Smith said he had nothing to lose by joining a stem cell therapy clinical trial. In fact, if he didn't join, he did have something to lose possibly his leg.

In the end it appears the experiment saved his leg. And Smith, who'd already lost two toes to amputation, said he's proud to have played a part in a study that could dramatically improve the outcome for many other patients facing lower-limb amputations resulting from diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, genetic predisposition and other causes.

The three-year study that ended last year was led by vascular surgeons at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, who believe the treatment may offer new hope to sufferers of peripheral artery disease, a condition that causes nearly 60,000 lower-limb amputations every year.

Dr. Richard J. Powell, chief of vascular surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, was the lead investigator of the second-phase national study, which included 72 patients from 20 different sites across the United States.

It's a winner, Powell said. For me, it was dramatic, because there has been nothing that has been shown to work. The results of the third-stage trial are to be presented to the Food and Drug Administration to be approved as a treatment for patients, Powell said.

Peripheral artery disease afflicts more than 9 million patients in the United States, according to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The condition results from blockages in blood vessels caused by atherosclerosis hardening of the arteries. Options for these patients are limited to the insertion of stents or bypass surgery.

And for about 150,000 patients in the United States who have the most severe form of the disease, amputation is the only option. The results of this recent study suggest amputation could be prevented in the majority of these severe cases.

And if the third phase of the clinical trials confirms the earlier results, the lives of those patients with severe cases could be tremendously affected, Powell said.

This is the first potential treatment that is non-surgical for really severe cardiovascular disease in the legs, he said. Roger Smith's story

About six years ago, Smith, 79, said he was having pain in his leg and trouble sleeping. He was initially misdiagnosed as having the nerve-related condition referred to as spinal stenosis, more commonly known as sciatica. When his condition worsened, he was correctly diagnosed with advanced peripheral artery disease. He lost two of his toes to amputation and was in danger of losing his leg.

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Treatment spares Lebanon man from amputation

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- UC Davis Health System researchers are a step closer to launching human clinical trials involving the use of an innovative stem cell therapy to fight the virus that causes AIDS.

In a paper published in the May issue of the Journal of Virology, the UC Davis HIV team demonstrated both the safety and efficacy of transplanting anti-HIV stem cells into mice that represent models of infected patients. The technique, which involves replacing the immune system with stem cells engineered with a triple combination of HIV-resistant genes, proved capable of replicating a normally functioning human immune system by protecting and expanding HIV-resistant immune cells. The cells thrived and self-renewed even when challenged with an HIV viral load.

"We envision this as a potential functional cure for patients infected with HIV, giving them the ability to maintain a normal immune system through genetic resistance," said lead author Joseph Anderson, an assistant adjunct professor of internal medicine and a stem cell researcher at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures. "Ideally, it would be a one-time treatment through which stem cells express HIV-resistant genes, which in turn generate an entire HIV-resistant immune system."

To establish immunity in mice whose immune systems paralleled those of patients with HIV, Anderson and his team genetically modified human blood stem cells, which are responsible for producing the various types of immune cells in the body.

Building on work that members of the team have pursued over the last decade, they developed several anti-HIV genes that were inserted into blood stem cells using standard gene-therapy techniques and viral vectors (viruses that efficiently insert the genes they carry into host cells). The resulting combination vector contained:

These engineered blood stem cells, which could be differentiated into normal and functional human immune cells, were introduced into the mice. The goal was to validate whether this experimental treatment would result in an immune system that remained functional, even in the face of an HIV infection, and would halt or slow the progression toward AIDS.

The results were successful on all counts.

"After we challenged transplanted mice with live HIV, we demonstrated that the cells with HIV-resistant genes were protected from infection and survived in the face of a viral challenge, maintaining normal human CD4 levels," said Anderson. CD4+ T-cells are a type of specialized immune cell that HIV attacks and uses to make more copies of HIV.

"We actually saw an expansion of resistant cells after the viral challenge, because other cells which were not resistant were being killed off, and only the resistant cells remained, which took over the immune system and maintained normal CD4 levels," added Anderson.

The data provided from the study confirm the safety and efficacy of this combination anti-HIV lentiviral vector in a hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy setting for HIV and validated its potential application in future human clinical trials. The team has submitted a grant application for human clinical trials and is currently seeking regulatory approval, which is necessary to move on to clinical trials.

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Stem cell therapy to battle HIV?

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The California
stem cell agency today unveiled initial details of how it plans to
run its $30 million bank of reprogrammed adult stem cells.

"This permits
CIRM to have complete control of this valuable resource and is
consistent with the practice of NIH’s Center for Regenerative
Medicine which is also creating a repository for iPSC lines and
derived materials."

"The (current) IP
regulations were drafted to address conventional drug discovery
activities and did not contemplate creation of a comprehensive
repository of cell lines intended for broad distribution. As a
result, the IP regulations contain a number of provisions which are
either not applicable or worse could impede the success of the hiPSC
bank. For instance, IP regulations permit the exclusive licensing of
CIRM funded inventions and technology. This would be
counterproductive to the goals of the hiPSC repository which are
predicated on wide spread access."

"These lines
will serve as valuable tools in drug discovery and will be available
to researchers worldwide. The Tissue Collection RFA No. 12-02 will
fund clinicians and other scientists to identify, recruit and consent
sufficient numbers of affected individuals within a disease
population so as to effectively represent the disease’s
manifestations. Tissues will be collected and appropriate clinical,
medical or diagnostic information, will be obtained to enable
informed discovery of disease-related phenotypes and drug development
activities using hiPSC-based models. These tissue samples will be
provided (without charge) to the recipient of the CIRM hiPSC
Derivation Award (RFA No. 12-03) for the production of the hiPSC
lines. Once derived, characterized and released, the lines will be
deposited in the CIRM hiPSC bank funded under RFA No. 12-04."

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Gary Rabin, CEO of ACT

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Source:
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The California
stem cell agency today unveiled initial details of how it plans to
run its $30 million bank of reprogrammed adult stem cells.

"This permits
CIRM to have complete control of this valuable resource and is
consistent with the practice of NIH’s Center for Regenerative
Medicine which is also creating a repository for iPSC lines and
derived materials."

"The (current) IP
regulations were drafted to address conventional drug discovery
activities and did not contemplate creation of a comprehensive
repository of cell lines intended for broad distribution. As a
result, the IP regulations contain a number of provisions which are
either not applicable or worse could impede the success of the hiPSC
bank. For instance, IP regulations permit the exclusive licensing of
CIRM funded inventions and technology. This would be
counterproductive to the goals of the hiPSC repository which are
predicated on wide spread access."

"These lines
will serve as valuable tools in drug discovery and will be available
to researchers worldwide. The Tissue Collection RFA No. 12-02 will
fund clinicians and other scientists to identify, recruit and consent
sufficient numbers of affected individuals within a disease
population so as to effectively represent the disease’s
manifestations. Tissues will be collected and appropriate clinical,
medical or diagnostic information, will be obtained to enable
informed discovery of disease-related phenotypes and drug development
activities using hiPSC-based models. These tissue samples will be
provided (without charge) to the recipient of the CIRM hiPSC
Derivation Award (RFA No. 12-03) for the production of the hiPSC
lines. Once derived, characterized and released, the lines will be
deposited in the CIRM hiPSC bank funded under RFA No. 12-04."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Gary Rabin, CEO of ACT

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire -05/03/12)- Regen BioPharma (Regen), Inc. a newly-formed subsidiary of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, Inc. (BMSN.PK - News) (BMSN.PK - News), unveiled today its operational plan for its "Super-Incubator" stem cell company.

Month 1-2: Assembly of Team. Regen intends to assemble a team of world-class leaders in the spheres of Technology, Intellectual Property assessment, valuation and Clinical development. Regen will seek to compile a team of Physician-Scientists with experience in the area of clinical trials for regenerative medicine/stem cell products, Regulatory experts who have successfully taken products through the FDA and corresponding agencies internationally, and Biotech Entrepreneurs who have track records of excellence in business formation and value optimization.

Month 1-4: In-licensing of Intellectual Property. The Company having already assessed over 20,000 issued patents and having compiled a shortlist of 30 targets; Regen will seek to execute licensing deals on an initial core of 3 technologies. Regen focuses on issued patents that have already passed preclinical studies but are not under clinical development.

Month 3-6: Interaction with Regulatory Agencies. Regen intends to develop data packages for each of the technologies and initiate interaction with Regulatory Agencies such as the FDA for initiation of trials.

Month 6-18: Clinical Implementation. Regen intends to launch clinical trials with world-leading institutions to obtain human safety data and "signal" of therapeutic efficacy.

Month 18-24: Exit. It is intended that technologies "incubated" by Regen will be spun off either as separate companies, or sold to Large Pharma companies seeking to enhance their therapeutic pipeline.

"At present there exists a wealth of intellectual property that is 'collecting dust' in the corridors of Academia. Given the field of regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy is so young, and the business models are fuzzy at best in terms of valuation, we see this space as a unique opportunity for acceleration of clinical development/value optimization," said Bio-Matrix Chairman & CEO David Koos about its Regen BioPharma. "Valuations for stem cell companies that have passed the threshold of clinical safety, with signals of efficacy are astronomical. The $1.8 billion Mesoblast-Cephalon deal, as well as recent financings of private companies with as little as 3 patient data such as Promethera ($31 million) or Allocure with 16 patients ($23 million), is testimony to the extremely high valuations that are characteristic of this space."

About Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, Inc.:

Bio-Matrix Scientific Group, Inc. (BMSN.PK - News) is a biotechnology company focused on the development of regenerative medicine therapies and tools. The Company is specifically focused on human therapies that address unmet medical needs. Specifically, Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc. is looking to increase the quality of life through therapies involving stem cell treatments. These treatments are focused in areas relating to lung, heart, circulatory system and other internal organs.

Through Its wholly owned subsidiary, Regen BioPharma, it is the Company's goal to develop translational medicine platforms for the rapid commercialization of stem cell therapies. The Company is looking to use these translational medicine platforms to advance intellectual property licensed from entities, institutions and universities that show promise towards fulfilling the Company's goal of increased quality of life.

Read the original here:
Bio-Matrix Subsidiary "First in Class" Approach to Stem Cell Medicine