Medistem, Inc.’s stock is soaring today after the company released news of a peer-reviewed publication on its data for what the company believes is the world’s first “combination therapy” human stem cell protocol for a spinal cord injury.
San Diego, California-based Medistem is a biotechnology company developing technologies related to adult stem cell extraction, manipulation, and use for treating inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The Company has filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA for use of its universal donor endometrial regenerative cells (ERC) for treatment of critical limb ischemia, an advanced form of peripheral artery disease. Medistem also sells the ERC cells for research at the General Biotechnology LLC website.
In this particular study, a 29 year old patient who had suffered spinal injuries from a plane crash on May 13, 2008 had lost the ability to walk, sporatic pain and lost sexual function. After injections of the combination universal donor stem cells (not matched to a specific person) in November of 2008 and then again in January and July of 2009, a gradual improvement was observed. To date, the patient has regained sexual function, pain has significantly decreased and the ability to walk has been regained.
Quick to point out that this was only one piece of research, Dr. Vladimir Bogin, Chairman and President of Medistem, commented, “While we cannot make any conclusions based on the treatment of only one patient, we are very excited to see such a drastic improvement.”
Medistem is targeting the first quarter of 2011 to initiate clinical trials with the ultimate goal of full registration with the FDA of its technologies. Dr. Sergey Sablin, Vice President of Medistem, who is also founder of Selena Pharmaceuticals and co-founder of the NASDAQ company Medivation Inc., stated, “The fact that Endometrial Regenerative Cells can be made into lung, liver, brain, pancreatic, bone, fat, blood vessel, heart, and muscle tissue suggests that these cells may be useful for numerous diseases.”
Medistem has published several results of its ERC therapy for patients with multiple sclerosis, heart failure and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in the past. While the Company itself is primarily focused on critical limb ischemia, it does see potential for many other applications as documented in prior reports. For this, it is currently seeking strategic partners for expanded development of ERC.
The medical article describing the procedure was published in International Archives of Internal Medicine and was co-authored by scientists at the University of California San Diego, Indiana University, and University of Utah. It can be accessed at this link: http://www.intarchmed.com/content/pdf/1755-7682-3-30.pdf
A publication describing the support for use of ERC for critical limb ischemia can be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-6-45.pdf
More information on Medistem can be found on the company’s website at www.medisteminc.com
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