Regenerative Medicine

More embryonic stem cell lines approved for US funding

Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) Inc of Madison, Wisconsin has raised $40.6 million in a Series B private equity round to increase production capacity for its human heart cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs).

Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to pay up to $335 million for rights to a novel peptide that appears to stimulate the growth of new insulin-producing sites in the pancreas. The compound, for diabetes, was discovered by CureDM Inc of the US.

A team of researchers from North America has shown that it is possible to reverse the process of aging in certain induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), potentially increasing their usefulness as future therapies for age-related degenerative disease.

The ReNeuron Group Plc has received final regulatory clearance to start its ground-breaking first-in-man study of a stem cell therapy for stroke. The therapy will be administered to patients who have been left disabled by an ischaemic stroke.

A patient in the US has become the first person with the neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to be treated with stem cells. The cells were directly injected into the spinal cord of the patient on 20 January 2010.

The US Food and Drug Administration has put a ‘clinical hold’ on a proposed first-in-man study of a new embryonic stem cell treatment for eye disease, according to the developer.

Cell Medica Ltd of London, UK has signed a research and development agreement with a medical research center in Texas to help it commercialise clinically-proven cell therapies which have been pioneered by the US researchers.

Researchers at Newcastle University in the UK have reported the successful treatment of eight patients suffering from an eye disease known as limbal stem cell deficiency with the patients’ own stem cells. The treatment was administered in a clinical trial.

Geron Corporation of Menlo Park California, US expects to begin its first-in-man study of a new embryonic stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury in the third quarter of 2010. This follows discussions with the Food and Drug Administration during which a strategy was outlined for lifting the trial hold.