Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (NSDQ:BCLI) said today that it inked an agreement with the University of California Irvine Medical Center to enroll patients in the Phase III trial of its NurOwn mesenchymal stem cell-based platform for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This marks the third medical center to work with Brainstorm to enroll patients in the late-stage pivotal trial. […]
Stem Cells
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics wins $16m grant for pivotal NurOwn ALS study
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (NSDQ:BCLI) said today it won a $16 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to engage in a phase 3 study of its NurOwn mesenchymal stem cell-based platform for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Brainstorm said it is in the advanced stages of planning a Phase 3 clinical trial investigating NurOwn for […]
Study: Induced pluripotent stem cells could yield accurate models for vascular disease
Smooth muscle and vascular endothelial cells induced from pluripotent stem cells could help model rare vascular diseases, according to a study published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine. Vascular diseases are tricky to study because they are hard to model and human tissue samples are scarce. An appropriate model for real blood vessels could enable researchers to […]
Gamida Cell lands $40m for late-stage NiCord trial
Gamida Cell said today that it raised $40 million to support the ongoing Phase III trial of its NiCord cell graft and expand its in-house manufacturing capacity. The private financing was led by new investor Shavit Capital. VMS Investment Group and Israel Biotech Fund joined existing investor Novartis in the round, as well as Clal Biotechnology […]
Brainstorm lands $2.1m Israeli grant for NurOwn stem cell therapy
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (NSDQ:BCLI) said today that it landed a $2.1 million grant from the Israel Innovation Authority. The funds are slated to support the development of Brainstorm’s NurOwn mesenchymal stem cell-based platform for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS. This is the 10th year that Brainstorm has won grant support from the Israeli office […]
ViaCyte looks to cell replacement therapy to cure Type I diabetes
ViaCyte said today that it will begin clinical trials of its novel islet cell replacement therapy in development as a potential cure for Type I diabetes, after landing regulatory wins from the FDA and Health Canada. The company’s PEC-Direct candidate delivers stem cell-derived pancreatic progenitor cells in a device that is designed to enable direct […]
Engineered tissue could eliminate radiation for bone marrow transplants
University of California San Diego engineers have created artificial bone tissue that could eliminate the need for radiation before bone marrow transplants. Shyni Varghese, a bioengineering professor at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, led a team to develop a bone-like implant to eliminate the pre-treatment radiation that kills stem cells in a patient’s bone […]
Magenta raises $50m, inks partnership with Novartis for stem cell transplant drugs
Magenta Therapeutics said today that it closed a $50 million Series B round and licensed a clinical-stage program from Novartis (NYSE:NVS) to advance its stem cell transplantation platform. The company also inked a partnership deal with Be The Match BioTherapies. Google’s venture arm, GV, led the financing round and was joined by existing investors, including […]
Study: Gamida Cell’s NiCord cell graft yields fewer infections, shorter hospital stays
Gamida Cell said today that its NiCord cell graft produces fewer infections, shorter hospital stays and shorter time to engraftment compared to standard umbilical cord blood transplantation. The company’s work was published in Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. “Our results indicate that rapid hematopoietic recovery from Gamida Cell’s NiCord transplantation approach is associated with clinical benefit. […]
Researchers identify signal that could speed up healing
Researchers from the University of Southern California identified the signal that triggers stem cells to take action after an injury and showed how it could be used as a therapy to accelerate the body’s healing process. “Our research shows that by priming the body before an injury, you can speed the process of tissue repair and […]