A panel at the Harvard Law School Wednesday discussed the ethical debate over the use of embryonic stem cells in the United States, focusing on the burgeoning controversy surrounding the role of stem cell therapy in medical tourism. Medical tourism, in which patients travel internationally to gain access to specific health care services, has become increasingly common, panelists said. They said that reasons for medical tourism range from basic hip replacement surgery to black market organ sales. As most stem cell therapies are not approved in the United States, numerous patients are going abroad to countries like China and Russia where treatment is legal. Panelist I. Glenn Cohen, an assistant professor at the Law School, said that it was probable that a Chinese stem cell facility performs several hundred thousand of these treatments yearly. He said that numerous celebrities, including football quarterback Peyton Manning, have reportedly traveled abroad to receive stem cell treatment not approved by the FDA. A number of facilities claim to use stem cells to cure a wide array of diseases. University of Alberta law professor Timothy Caulfield, another panelist, pointed out that a simple Google search leads potential patients to a plethora of websites which claim … Continue reading →

CARLSBAD, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 29, 2012) - International Stem Cell Corporation ( OTCQB : ISCO ) (www.internationalstemcell.com) ("ISCO" or "the Company"), a California-based biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutic products, today announced the achievement of a critical milestone towards the clinical development of its stem cell therapy. The Company's research and development team has created the world's first human clinical-grade stem cell lines with the ability to immune-match millions of individuals. ISCO's existing research-grade parthenogenetic stem cell lines, one of which contains the most common immune type in the Caucasian population and may be an immune-match to approximately 70 million people, are used in pre-clinical development. These new clinical-grade stem cell lines position ISCO to be able to conduct clinical trials in the United States. Dr. Semechkin, CEO and Co-Chairman of the Board, comments, "We've been working diligently for three years to perfect this technology, which was first developed by our scientific founder, Dr. Elena Revazova in Moscow, and I'm excited to report that we have been able to derive new stem cell lines in the United States under the US and California regulatory frameworks. I'm optimistic that the new parthenogenetic stem cell lines, by providing a potentially … Continue reading →

Chemotherapy effectiveness improved in neuroblastoma patients Researchers from UNSW's Australian Centre for Nanomedicine have developed a nanoparticle that could improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy for neuroblastoma by a factor of five. Neuroblastoma is an aggressive childhood cancer that often leaves survivors with lingering health problems due to the high doses of chemotherapy required for treatment. Anything that can potentially reduce these doses is considered an important development. In a world-first, the UNSW researchers developed a non-toxic nanoparticle that can deliver and release nitric oxide (NO) to specific cancer cells in the body. The findings of their in vitro experiments have been published in the journalChemical Communications. When we injected the chemo drug into the neuroblastoma cells that had been pre-treated with our new nitric oxide nanoparticle we needed only one-fifth the dose, says co-author Dr Cyrille Boyer from the School of Chemical Engineering at UNSW. By increasing the effectiveness of these chemotherapy drugs by a factor of five, we could significantly decrease the detrimental side-effects to healthy cells and surrounding tissue. This synergistic effect between nitric oxide and chemotherapy drugs had previously been reported in other cancer cell lines, but the delivery compounds were potentially toxic and had very poor … Continue reading →

SCMOM 2012_NeoStem NeoStem, Inc. is an emerging technology leader in the fast-developing cell therapy market. Its business strategy combines a state-of-the-art contract development and manufacturing subsidiary, Progenitor Cell Therapy, LLC, with a medically important cell therapy product development program. NeoStem's most clinically advanced therapeutic, AMR-001, is being developed at its Amorcyte subsidiary, which is enrolling patients in a Phase 2 trial for preservation of heart function after a heart attack. Athelos Corporation, also a NeoStem subsidiary, is in early stage clinical exploration of a T-cell therapy for autoimmune conditions. Pre-clinical assets include our VSELTM Technology platform and our mesenchymal stem cell product candidate for regenerative medicine. http://www.neostem.com Presenter: Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, NeoStem, Inc.From:AllianceRegenMedViews:4 1ratingsTime:14:54More inScience Technology See the article here: SCMOM 2012_NeoStem - Video … Continue reading →

SCMOM 2012_Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) is the nucleus for cardiovascular research at Stanford University. Formed in 2004, the Cardiovascular Institute is home to Stanford's myriad cardiovascular-related adult and pediatric research, clinical, and educational programs, centers and laboratories, as well as over 500 Stanford basic scientists, graduate students, clinician scientists, and other researchers in heart and vessel disease and prevention. Within the area of cardiac regenerative medicine, the Stanford CVI has significant research endeavors involving human pluripotent stem cells for (1) cardiovascular disease modeling, (2) drug screening and discovery, and (3) personalized cell therapy. Recently, Stanford CVI investigators received a $20 million CIRM Disease Team Therapy Award for performing pre-IND work that would enable the first-in-man clinical trial involving injection of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for patients with heart failure. wulab.stanford.edu Presenter Joseph Wu, Associate Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of MedicineFrom:AllianceRegenMedViews:3 0ratingsTime:17:06More inScience Technology See the original post: SCMOM 2012_Stanford Cardiovascular Institute - Video … Continue reading →

SCMOM 2012_Regen BioPharma, Inc. The Regen BioPharma business model is to take multiple stem cell therapeutics to and through the human "safety and signal of efficacy" stage (Phase I/II clinical trials). The approach is a highly focused analysis of issued patents in regenerative medicine, identification and acquisition of undervalued assets that have demonstrated proof of concept, and forming companies around these assets. Having assembled a core infrastructure specialized in obtaining regulatory approval and executing clinical trials in cell therapy, we aim to act as a "superincubator" that within 18 - 24 months grows technologies from laboratory to an asset ready for spin-off or sale to feed the pipeline of Big Pharma. http://www.regenbiopharma.com Presenter: J. Christopher Mizer, President, Regen BioPharma, Inc.From:AllianceRegenMedViews:4 1ratingsTime:09:13More inScience Technology Link: SCMOM 2012_Regen BioPharma, Inc. - Video … Continue reading →

Procedure Combines Point-of-Care Stem Cell Therapy and Enriched Mesenchymal Stem Cell Injection NAMPA, ID--(Marketwire - Nov 29, 2012) - Veterinarians from Idaho Equine Hospital, including Dr. William Maupin and Dr. Stuart Shoemaker, performed the first-ever combination regenerative medicine treatment on a six-year-old Quarter Reined Cow horse that suffered a significant injury to its distal straight sesamoidean ligament. This injury can be challenging for veterinarians to successfully treat and return the horse to athletic competition. The veterinary team and the scientific team at Stemlogix, LLC determined that the best treatment protocol would be to treat him with point-of-care stem cell therapy using the Stemlogix In-Clinic Regenerative Medicine System and then perform a follow up treatment a few weeks later using culture expanded mesenchymal stem cells. He received a dose of the point-of-care stem cell therapy three weeks ago and three weeks later received an injection of culture expanded mesenchymal stem cells. Stemlogix, LLC pioneered the landmark stem cell therapy treatment regimen and this is the first time this combination stem cell therapy treatment has ever been performed on a horse. The team that treated the horse believes this revolutionary treatment protocol will give him the best chance for an improved quality … Continue reading →