Interim data from a Phase I safety trial of human spinal cord stem cells by Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis showed that all nine patients were alive with no unresolved serious adverse reactions from the surgery...The company said that the results showed feasibility of transplantation of stem cells directly to the spinal cord

StemCells Inc., of Newark, Calif., said the first patient in its Phase I/II trial in chronic spinal cord injury was implanted successfully with the firm's HuCNS-SC adult neural stem cells

Advanced Cell Technology Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., has received clearance from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to treat patients as part of a Phase I/II trial for Stargardt's macular dystrophy (SMD) using retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) derived from human embryonic stem cells

The company also is preparing to initiate pilot preclinical cell therapy programs involving the stem cell differentiation and production capabilities of its Human Clinical Trials in a Test Tube platform

The trial will evaluate tumor stem cell burden as a primary endpoint at the end of the trial

ReNeuron Ltd., of Guildford, UK, received clearance from an independent data safety monitoring board to advance to a higher dose of stem cell treatment ReN001 in its Phase I trial for stroke

Since the agency placed the clinical hold in 2009, Medistem has published four peer-reviewed publications containing new data regarding endometrial-derived adult stem cells, while independent groups have published data on cells similar to Medistem's ERCs showing that they induced benefit in animal models of heart failure, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and stroke

The cell therapy involves using mesenchymal stem cells isolated from each patient's bone marrow...The antibody-drug conjugate was granted accelerated approval by the FDA earlier this month for Hodgkin lymphoma after the failure of either autologous stem cell transplant or at least two multi-agent chemotherapy regimens in transplant-ineligible patients and for systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) after the failure of at least one multi-agent chemotherapy regimen. (See BioWorld Today, Aug

Bioheart Inc., of Sunrise, Fla., said data from its Phase II/III trial of adult muscle stem cell product MyoCell for chronic heart failure following myocardial infarction will be published in The American Heart Journal

The RPEs are derived from human embryonic stem cells

Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., said research published in Circulation Research showed that injections of adult patients' own CD34+ stem cells reduced reports of angina episodes and improved exercise tolerance time in patients with chronic, severe refractory angina

Advanced Cell Technology Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., enrolled the first patients in its two Phase I/II trials in Stargardt's macular dystrophy and dry age-related macular degeneration using retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells

StemCells Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., will present clinical results showing that HuCNS-SC neural stem cells survive long term after transplantation in patients with severe neurological disorder

Neuralstem Inc., of Rockville, Md., said the safety monitoring board unanimously approved advancing the ongoing Phase I trial of the company's spinal cord stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients to transplantation in the cervical region

Subjects in both the early and advanced stages of the disease will be transplanted with stem cells derived from their own bone marrow and treated with Brainstorm's NurOwn stem cell technology

Cytori Therapeutics Inc., of San Diego, said 18-month data from its randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of the Celution System for using fat-derived stem cells after a heart attack resulted in an 11.2 percent reduction in infarct size for treated patients versus a 4.4 percent reduction for placebo...Telintra inhibits glutathione S-transferase P1-1 to stimulate differentiation of normal blood stem cell precursors and induce apoptosis in leukemia cells

Geron Corp., of Menlo Park, Calif., reported results from an ongoing Phase I trial of its stem cell therapy, GRNOPC1, for spinal cord injury at the 2011 International Conference on Spinal Cord Medicine and Rehabilitation in Washington

Aldagen Inc., of Durham, N.C., reported that the first subject enrolled in a Phase II trial of the company's ALD-401, a stem cell population derived from a patient's own bone marrow, for the treatment of stroke

The trial will enroll 12 patients over the next two years who have received treatment for their myeloma and who are eligible for an autologous stem cell transplant