Regenerative Medicine

Osiris Therapeutics Inc said that preliminary results from two Phase 3 trials of its stem cell treatment for acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) did not reach their primary endpoints.

Geron Corporation of Menlo Park, California, has submitted further animal data to the US Food and Drug Administration on its first-in-man study of a stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury and the agency has put a clinical hold on the study.

Companies developing new cell and tissue-engineered products shouldn’t expect to see much venture funding for their activities at least until the current recession bottoms out and economic growth resumes, according to a US venture capitalist.

The US National Institutes of Health is requesting comments on draft guidelines that will inform the use of embryonic stem cells in medical research. Comments are requested by 26 May 2009 to the NIH.

French researchers have started screening for compounds and RNA interference molecules that could eventually treat myotonic dystrophy, a chronic, slowly progressing disease characterised by wasting of the muscles.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be issuing new guidelines on how scientists should conduct research using embryonic stem cells following President Barack Obama’s decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of this research.

Researchers from the UK and Canada have reported a method for reprogramming human skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells without the use of viral vectors.

Stem Cell Sciences Plc, a UK stem-cell engineering company that has been seeking a buyer for some months, has agreed to sell its operating assets and substantially all of its intellectual property to StemCells Inc of the US in a share and debt transaction valued at $4.85 million.

Epistem Plc, a UK-listed biotechnology company, has signed a multi-million dollar research and development agreement with Novartis to identify new drug targets and therapeutics across a range of disease areas.

ReNeuron Group Plc has received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to conduct a first-in-man trial of a stem cell therapy to treat stroke.