SAN DIEGO, June 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --ViaCyte, Inc. today announced the appointment of seasoned entrepreneur, Paul Laikind, Ph.D., as President & Chief Executive Officer. Allan Robins, Ph.D., who was serving as Acting CEO, will continue in his role as Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. ViaCyte is a leading pre-clinical company developing a novel cell therapy product for the treatment of insulin dependent diabetes. Dr. Laikind brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology and life sciences industry to ViaCyte. He is a serial entrepreneur, who co-founded three San Diego companies, Gensia Pharmaceuticals Inc., Viagene Inc., and Metabasis Therapeutics Inc., serving in various executive positions including President and CEO. All three companies went public and were eventually acquired. Most recently, he served as Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. "Paul brings to ViaCyte a wealth of experience in managing new businesses based on highly innovative life sciences technologies," said Fred Middleton, Chairman of ViaCyte. "We are pleased to have him join to lead ViaCyte through our next phase of development in bringing our transformative stem cell therapy to patients with diabetes. We believe Paul's leadership and business development … Continue reading →

"So it's interesting to see that in all the patients so far they have improved slightly over the course of their involvement in the study." The six patients suffered strokes between six months and five years before they were treated, and all had been left with limb weakness. The patients were assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale which ranked the first five patients with a median score of eight before the treatment and four points three months afterwards. The sixth patient was treated less than three months ago. Six further patients will be treated as part of this Phase 1 trial. Professor Muir said he was "intrigued" by the early results. He added: "We know that if you're involved in a trial you are going to see patients change in behaviour, particularly if you're doing something invasive, so we need to be very cautious indeed in interpreting these results. "However, that said, it is not something we'd anticipated seeing in this group of patients." Further trials are needed to establish whether stem cells actually help the brain repair damaged tissue. Michael Hunt, chief executive officer of the company developing the treatment, ReNeuron, said: "The clinical trial is … Continue reading →

* European Parliament debating funding for 2014 to 2020 * Scientists fear cuts to embryonic stem cell research * Experts say cutting funds would hold back entire field LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Leading scientists, biomedical research bodies and patient groups urged the European Parliament on Friday to maintain vital European Union funding for studies using embryonic stem cells. Hailing the field as "one of the most exciting and promising" in modern biomedical research, the group said they feared research grants currently under review may be under threat from pro-life European parliamentarians who say public funds should not be spent on embryonic stem cell work. "(EU) Commission funding must be available to continue to support scientists investigating all types of stem cells - including human embryonic stem cells - with potential to make advances in regenerative medicine," they wrote in an open letter released by the Wellcome Trust, a charitable health foundation. The European Parliament is currently debating the future outline of Horizon (Euronext: HOR.NX - news) 2020, the EU's programme for research and innovation which will run from 2014 to 2020. Draft rules provide for stem cell research funding, including embryonic stem cells but some member states have been … Continue reading →