The federal government is pledging up to $67.5 million for research into "personalized medicine," which tailors treatment to a patient's genetics and environment. The funds will flow through Genome Canada, the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the federal government's health research agency. Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Minister of State for Science Gary Goodyear made the announcement at the University of Ottawa's health campus Tuesday. The field of personalized medicine is touted as having the potential to transform the way patients are treated. It looks at the genetic makeup of a person, the patient's environment and the exact course of a particular disease so that an appropriate and effective treatment can be tailored for that individual. The idea is to move from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that is designed for a specific person and relies on the genetic signatures, or biomarkers, of both the patient and the disease. Proponents of personalized medicine say it is likely to change the way drugs are developed, how medicines are prescribed and generally how illnesses are managed. They say it will shift the focus in health care from reaction to prevention, improve health outcomes, make drugs … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies http://www.reportlinker.com/p0203537/Cell-Therapy---Technologies-Markets-and-Companies.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Biological_Therapy This report describes and evaluates cell therapy technologies and methods, which have already started to play an important role in the practice of medicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is replacing the old fashioned bone marrow transplants. Role of cells in drug discovery is also described. Cell therapy is bound to become a part of medical practice. Stem cells are discussed in detail in one chapter. Some light is thrown on the current controversy of embryonic sources of stem cells and comparison with adult sources. Other sources of stem cells such as the placenta, cord blood and fat removed by liposuction are also discussed. Stem cells can also be genetically modified prior to transplantation. Cell therapy technologies overlap with those of gene therapy, cancer vaccines, drug delivery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Pharmaceutical applications of stem cells including those in drug discovery are also described. Various types of cells used, methods of preparation and culture, encapsulation and genetic engineering of cells are discussed. Sources of cells, both human and animal (xenotransplantation) are discussed. … Continue reading →

  RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif., Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ThermoGenesis Corp. (NASDAQ: KOOL - News), a leading supplier of innovative products and services that process and store adult stem cells, today provided updates on two clinical evaluations involving its Res-Q® 60 BMC (Res-Q) system, a point-of-care platform designed for the preparation of cell concentrates from bone marrow. Speaking at the Seventh International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease, Vijay Kumar, Ph.D., the Company's principal scientist and Manager of Research, said the initial data are encouraging for patients being treated in clinical evaluations for Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) and long bone fractures with concentrates prepared by the Res-Q. The studies covered in Kumar's presentation included: A clinical evaluation in India co-sponsored by ThermoGenesis and Totipotent SC, the Company's distributor for the Res-Q in India. Ten of 15 planned patients with advanced CLI have been enrolled to date with the primary endpoints of safety and rate of limb salvage at one year. Kumar reported a statistically significant improvement in ankle brachial index, six-minute walk test, and rest pain though further data remain to be collected. The lead investigator for this study is Dr. Suhail Bukhari of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute and … Continue reading →

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (“ImmunoCellular” or the “Company”) (OTCBB: IMUC.OB - News), a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, announced the allowance of U.S. patent claims related to the Company’s method of treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in a patient by targeting cancer stem cells (CSC). ImmunoCellular received notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that a patent titled “Cancer Stem Cell Antigen Vaccines and Methods,” which covers various methods of using dendritic cells combined with antigens derived from glioblastoma CSCs for the treatment of GBM has been allowed. “The notice of allowance for this patent provides support for our strong intellectual property protection that we are building in the treatment of cancer by targeting cancer stem cells,” said John Yu, MD, ImmunoCellular’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer and a co-inventor of the technology covered by the patent that has been exclusively licensed to the Company. “We continue to actively develop our CSC platform as we believe it has significant potential in the treatment of cancer.” ImmunoCellular Therapeutics is currently conducting a Phase-II double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2:1 randomized study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ICT-107 in patients with … Continue reading →

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 ANGELES CITY -- The move of Representative Carmelo Lazatin (1st district, Pampanga) to establish a stem cell center in the Philippines has garnered the support of the Catanduanes Provincial Board. The measure (House Bill 5287) entitled “An Act Establishing Stem Cell Technology” seeks to establish a stem cell center in the Philippines that would strengthen research on the latest medical technology. Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos. This latest technology is a “major breakthrough in combating deadly diseases,” said the Catanduanes Provincial Board, which recently passed a resolution in support of the bill. The resolution, a copy of which was forwarded to Lazatin’s office, was approved by acting Vice Governor Nel Asanza and Board Members Rafael Zuniega, Edwin Tanael, Shirley Abundo, Jose Romeo Francisco, Roger Pereyra, Marilyn Tatel and Lemuel Surtida. The Catanduanes Provincial Board said stem cell technology offers hope of effective treatment of malignant and non-malignant diseases such as cancer, heart attacks and other cardio-vascular anomalies. It said the establishment of a stem cell research and storage center in the country would be a great help to unfortunate Filipinos who cannot afford expensive treatment, as well as in promoting … Continue reading →

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Treating stroke patients with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow appears to safely help them regain some of their lost abilities, two small new studies suggest. Indian researchers observed mixed results in the extent of stroke patients' improvements, with one study showing marked gains in daily activities, such as feeding, dressing and movement, and the other study noting these improvements to be statistically insignificant. But patients seemed to safely tolerate the treatments in both experiments with no ill effects, study authors said. "The results are encouraging to know but we need a larger, randomized study for more definitive conclusions," said Dr. Rohit Bhatia, a professor of neurology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, and author of one of the studies. "Many questions -- like timing of transplantation, type of cells, mode of transplantation, dosage [and] long-term safety -- need answers before it can be taken from bench to bedside." The studies are scheduled to be presented Wednesday and Thursday at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting in New Orleans. Stem cells -- unspecialized cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or human embryos that can change into … Continue reading →

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27-01-2012 11:22 Just before Christmas, the story of a 9-year-old autistic boy from Kentucky began to gain attention both on and offline. The interest was sparked when Christopher Baker's mother, Sandra Baker, found her son immersed in a bag at school. "It wasn't just his body down in it and his head out, his whole body was down inside the bag," she told WebProNews. As she explained, the school had called and asked her to come and get her son because he was "bouncing off the walls." When she arrived and saw what had happened, she was outraged and took the story to local news outlets. Lydia Brown, an autistic college student at Georgetown University, saw the story and decided to create a petition on Change.org. The petition, which has received over 180000 signatures already, calls for the school to take action against the teacher involved as well as comprehensive training for all school personnel. However, as with many viral stories, the Christopher Baker case has generated a fair share of controversy. Some people from the autism community have spoken out in defense of the school saying that therapy bags are often used for treating autistic individuals. Another debatable issue … Continue reading →

This isn't just an academic debate: By rewriting autism's definition, the American Psychiatric Association will affect services for thousands. Everyone, now, has something to say about autism. While TV shows, such as Touch, portray autistic children as possessing superhuman powers, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) is busy revising its definition of the disorder to focus on only the most affected individuals. Under their new revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS), the tome that describes and codes psychiatric issues ranging from autism to substance abuse to schizophrenia, people with higher functioning autism, sometimes called PDD or Aspergers or simply high functioning autism, could lose the autistic label. The new DSM V definition, which reads like a Dim Sum menu of dysfunction, states that an autistic person must have three deficits in social communication, show two out of four patterns of repetitive behavior, and begin to display deficits in childhood. Together, these deficits must impair everyday life. The previous definition in DSM IV had more options on its menu and would include kids whose issues were lumped in one area. The new definition also adds language that would only apply to the most severely affected individuals. It's no longer … Continue reading →