Showing posts with label spinalcord. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinalcord. Show all posts

Friday, March 29, 2019

Backed by California Stem Cell Agency: $5 Million Measure for Spinal Cord Research Advances in Sacramento

Legislation supported by stem cell research advocates to provide $5 million for work on spinal cord injuries easily cleared its first hurdle this week in Sacramento.

On a 15-0 vote, the proposal, AB 214, was approved Tuesday by the Assembly Health Committee and sent to the Appropriations Committee for placement on the "consent calendar."  Such a move could speed action on the bill.

Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, authored the bill, which is backed by Americans for Cures, the Palo Alto stem cell advocacy group created by Bob Klein, the first chairman of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.

The agency, known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is also listed as a supporter of the legislation. Other supporters included Aivita Biomedical of Irvine, Ca, the California Life Sciences Association and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

The CEO of Aivita is Hans Keirstead, a stem cell researcher formerly with UC Irvine.

No opposition was listed in the legislative staff analysis of the bill.

The measure provides $5 million to support the Roman Reed Act of 1999, named after a man who was paralyzed as the result of a spinal cord injury. Roman and his father, Don Reed, are long-time backers of the stem cell agency's work.  The elder Reed is a vice president of Americans for Cures.

The legislative analysis carried this comment sourced to the bill's author:
"The previous allocations of approximately $15 million in state funding to the Roman Reed program was leveraged over five times that amount in new grants benefiting spinal cord research all across the state. It’s time to reinstate a modest amount of state funding so these efforts can continue."

Wednesday, February 06, 2019

Roman Reed Act: $5 Million Proposed for More Research into Spinal Cord Injury


Roman Reed discusses stem cell research in 2017
Legislation to provide $5 million for stem cell and other research involving spinal cord injury has been introduced in the California state legislature and is expected to be heard soon in a key committee.

Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, introduced the measure that would re-fund the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act. 

Mullin, chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology,  said in a news release 
“Sadly, efforts to continue this funding stream that expired in 2011 have failed and critical research in this area has suffered. The absence of state funds has limited the programs ability to attract private investment, limiting the work being done.” 
The news release continued, 
"The Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act was originally established in 2000 and was subsequently renewed in 2004. The program, based at the University of California Irvine has continued its work, but on a smaller scale. According to the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, the earlier allocations of approximately $15 million in state funding allowed the program to leverage over $80 million in new grants benefitting virtually all California spinal cord scientists."
The legislation is named after Roman Reed, who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury in 1994. He and his father, Don, have been longtime backers of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.  Roman Reed came up with the first slogan of the agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM): "Turning stem cells into cures."

A comment by Don Reed wound up as the title of CIRM's  2018 annual report: "Something better than hope." The senior Reed lobbied the legislature for several years to create the act that ultimately provided the funding for the spinal cord research.

The bill is slated to come before the Assembly Health Committee for its first hearing, perhaps as early as this month. 

Friday, August 17, 2018

A California Stem Cell Tale: The Search for a Treatment for Paralyzing Spinal Injuries

Ed Wirth of Asterias, photo by Gabrielle Luri, SF Chronicle 
The San Francisco Chronicle, in a lengthy and dramatic article this week, reported on the story of the first clinical trial in the United States for a human embryonic stem cell treatment, a tale that continues today and well into the years ahead. 

The story involves paralyzing spinal injuries, incurable afflictions, walking rats, Geron, Asterias Biotherapeutics and BioTime and the economics of development of a stem cell therapy. That is not to mention the California stem cell agency, which has pumped more than $20 million into the effort.

The story was written by Erin Allday and is the third installment in a series involving stem cell research and treatments, both legitimate and illegitimate.

Her story began like this:
"Amid the controlled chaos of the operating room, Edward Wirth stood to the side, watching the surgeon slice open the back of the young man on the table....
"The surgeon nudged aside skin and a thin layer of muscle and clamped them out of the way. He chipped away bony vertebrae, exposing the shiny, smooth rope of the spinal cord. His scalpel slid into the membrane surrounding it.
"Wirth stepped forward, just beyond the surgeon’s shoulder, close by for these last steps. The surgical team moved a robotic arm holding a syringe into place. It was loaded with millions of immature support cells that had been meticulously crafted from stem cells, the cells that are the foundation of the human body, able to transform and reproduce indefinitely."
Wirth is a scientist who has been involved with the research since its early days at Geron of Menlo Park, Ca.. He has put in more than 20 years on the effort. Asterias Biotherapeutics of Fremont, Ca., which is associated with BioTime of Alameda, is currently handling the effort to create a treatment for spinal cord injuries.

The $3 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known, has provided a total of $20.7 million for the effort, first with Geron and now with Asterias.

Allday detailed the ups and downs, financial and scientific, of the research. She peered into the future and wrote that "it will take years to produce a marketable, federally approved therapy -- assuming their research makes it that far."

Nonetheless, she reported,
"Clinical trials like the one run by Asterias are scientists’ most ambitious attempts to harness the potential of what remains an elusive medical marvel. And the work at Asterias exemplifies both the incredible progress that’s been made in stem cell research and the great distance the field has yet to go before life-changing therapies are widely available.
"Riding on Asterias’ success isn’t just the fate of a single company or the careers of scientists like Wirth. Potentially, tens of thousands of patients every year could benefit directly from its therapy — and millions more if its research leads to further advances."
The fourth and final article in the Chronicle series is now scheduled to appear on Sept. 6  and will take a look at the California stem cell agency.

Monday, October 02, 2017

Asterias Biotherapeutics: Sizzling Superlatives on California Stem Cell Trial for Spinal Cord Injuries

A California stem cell trial backed with $21 million in state cash has generated "super, super-exciting" results involving patients who were paralyzed as the result of  severe spinal cord injuries.

A story today by Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle said,
"Four out of six paralyzed patients who had 10 million stem cells transplanted into their spinal cords have shown striking improvement a year after treatment, including increased ability to move their hands and arms and to perform basic functions like feeding and bathing themselves, according to research results being released Monday. 
"All six patients in the early-stage clinical trial, conducted by Fremont’s Asterias Biotherapeutics, reported at least some recovery after the stem cell transplant. The trial is among the first to use embryonic stem cells in human subjects. 
"It’s too soon to know for sure that the stem cells were solely responsible for the patients’ improvement. The patients could have experienced a spontaneous recovery, which is not unheard of in spinal cord injury victims, or their improvement could be the result of intense rehabilitation. 
"But compared to a large group of people with similar injuries, the results among patients treated with stem cells were remarkable, said doctors and scientists involved with research.

Allday also wrote,
“Scientifically, I have to say we don’t know for sure if it’s the stem cells. But I’ve been treating these kinds of patients for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Dr. Richard Fessler, lead investigator of the Asterias trial and a professor in the department of neurosurgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago."
The Chronicle story continued,
"'The bottom line is super, super exciting. Well beyond anything I thought we could have achieved at this point,' said Dr. Edward Wirth, chief medical officer with Asterias."
The story was good news for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the $3 billion, state stem cell agency is formally known and which has pumped the $21 million into the work. However, the bad news was that the agency's support of the research was not mentioned until the last paragraph of the Chronicle story. Most readers are not likely to get that far.

CIRM has backed Asterias with $14.3 million. The agency also funded the research with $6.4 million to Geron Corp.,which abandoned the trial for financial reasons. Asterias later acquired the research from Geron.

The agency has had a tough time getting its successes into the mainstream media for a number of years. But its story is now more important for the agency and will be for the new next three years. It is scheduled to run out of money for new awards in mid 2020. It is currently examining funding options including the possibility of asking voters for another multi-billion dollar bond issue. The nearly 13-year-old effort has not yet fulfilled voter expectations of development of a widely available therapy. Without something dramatic to show voters, a bond issue is likely to have heavy going.

The agency also put out a news release on the developments as did Asterias. However, a check with Google at 4 p.m. Monday showed that no other newspapers or other major mainstream outlets have picked up the story yet.

The news seemed to benefit the price of Asterias stock. It rose nearly 6 percent today, closing at $3.20. Its 52-week high is $5.80 and its 52-week low is $2.83.super

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

California Stem Cell Agency Reports 'Streak of Good News' on Asterias Spinal Therapy

Asterias video
California's $3 billion stem cell program today reported ongoing rosy results in a clinical trial involving a therapy for severe spinal cord injury.

The treatment is being developed Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc., of Fremont, Ca., with $14.3 million from the state research program, which is now in its 12th year.

The latest news was reported on The Stem Cellar, the agency's blog, and was based on a news release from Asterias, which is publicly traded. 

Todd Dubnicoff, the agency's multimedia editor, wrote the item which discussed nine-month results for the trial involving six patients paralyzed from the neck down. He said,
"In a nut shell, their improvements in arm, hand and finger movement seen at the earlier time points have persisted and even gotten better at 9 months."
Dubnicoff said that the level of improvement "can mean the difference between needing 24-hour a day home care versus dressing, feeding and bathing themselves."

He said,
"The impact of this level of improvement cannot be overstated. As mentioned in the press release, regaining these abilities, 'can result in lower healthcare costs, significant improvements in quality of life, increased ability to engage in activities of daily living, and increased independence.'"
In the Asterias press release, Edward Wirth, chief medical officer for the company, said,
“The new efficacy results show that previously reported meaningful improvements in arm, hand and finger function in the 10 million cell cohort treated with AST-OPC1 cells have been maintained and in some patients have been further enhanced even 9 months following dosing. We are increasingly encouraged by these continued positive results, which are remarkable compared with spontaneous recovery rates observed in a closely matched untreated patient population.”
The company also reported that no "serious adverse events" have surfaced that could be attributed to the therapy, which was initially developed  by Geron, Inc., which received $6.4 million from the stem cell agency. Geron abandoned the trial for financial reasons, and Asterias acquired the technology.

Aserias' stock price jumped nearly 13 percent today, hitting $3.55. Its 52 week high is $5.80 and its 52-week low is $2.30.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A Look at Spinal Cord Injury Treatments from California's Stem Cell Agency

The California stem cell agency today took to the Internet to conduct a nearly hour-long video briefing concerning the state of stem cell treatments for spinal cord injury.

The Google Hangout event featured Jane Lebkowski, president of research and development for Asterias Biotherapeutics of Menlo Park, Ca., which is involved in an early stage clinical trial for a human embryonic stem cell therapy.

The firm is backed by $14.3 million from the stem cell agency. Asterias is carrying forward the Geron spinal cord trial, which that company abandoned for financial reasons. Asterias expects to enroll more patients next year.

She and Kevin Whittlesey, a science officer with the state agency, discussed the multiple stem cell approaches involving spinal injuries that have surfaced since Geron began the first trial with human embryonic stem cells in 2010.

Lebkowski said that first stage of her firm’s trials demonstrated the initial safety of the treatment. She also said it showed some evidence of “preferential restoration” and “prevention of further deterioration.” The patients involved were treated less than a month after their injuries.

Whittlesey gave an overview of other research around the country. He commented on a case in Poland in which one paralyzed man is reportedly now walking with the help of a walker following treatment with cells from his nasal cavity. The cells were extracted by going in through his skull.

Whittlesey said that it is “hard to draw any conclusions from this one patient.” He said the man “enjoyed significant benefit.” However, he said that it is not possible to attribute the benefits entirely to the cell treatment because the experiment was not scientifically controlled.

California’s stem cell agency has put together a healthy portfolio of Webinars, You Tube videos and Google Hangouts involving a wide range of issues. It is all part of its effort to inform the public and spread good news about its $3 billion program.

However, today’s effort demonstrated the difficulty in drawing an audience. Spinal cord injuries affect as many as an estimated 332,000 persons in this country.  Despite promotion online, in the social media and notices in some publications, only 39 persons checked in for today’s Hang Out.

Kevin McCormack, who hosted the event and who is the director of communications for the agency, said that it is pretty much the pattern for these sort of events. The payoff, he said, is the 1,000 or more viewers that are picked up as people go to You Tube to view the video event.   We might add that the information is current, authoritative and useful, although at times a tad technical for non-scientists.

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