LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - May 8, 2013) - Pluristem (NASDAQ: PSTI) recently announced a new Phase I trial to check safety and evaluate effectiveness of its PLX-PAD cells in chronic tendonitis often leading to rotator cuff disorders, common in tennis players and golfers, where there are roughly 200,000 rotator cuff surgeries done each year in the US alone. Major insurers put the overall cost of rotator cuff operations at $6,700 each, with a lucrative $1,700 in doctor fees, draining our health care system of over $1.3 billion. Although cell therapy is not commonly associated with sports medicine procedures, it's time something new is tried to take down costs of these pricey procedures, something that doesn't involve dangerous devices or daily pill-popping.
Stem cell treatments are usually associated with serious diseases like cancer and chronic heart conditions, but have recently taken on the glamour of a potential quick-fix in the world of sports, causing celebrity athletes like Jason Kidd of the NY Knicks or NBA All-Star Allan Houston to seek them out in hopes of fast recoveries and better performance. Ethical considerations were bypassed when it became possible to use adult stem cells from fat, bone marrow or, even better, the birth placenta, rather than the embryo of an unborn child. The Catholics breathed easier.
In the past, academic institutions produced only spotty research for using cell therapy in sports and there have been no meaningful clinical trials targeting the human stem cell to treat sports medicine injuries. Dr. Jason Dragoo, top orthopedic surgery professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, spoke out last year to Sports Illustrated about the false hopes given to athletes by stem cell charlatans responding to pressure from owners, coaches and team sponsors.
He didn't have an answer then, but Pluristem may have one now.
Like all of the company's studies, the one for rotator cuff injuries is small and efficient, just 30 patients with only a six-month follow-up. If successful,we imagine third-party payors will be thrilled to recommend Pluristem's procedure over the expensive alternative.
Fixing damaged rotator cuffs with cell therapy is a great addition to Pluristem's growing niche in orthopedic medicine, blending well with ground-breaking clinical trials in hip replacement that we wrote about last August.The global market for artificial hips runs around $5 billion with no end in sight for growth as the world population ages and puts on weight. Companies that make devices for hip repair continue to prosper but the flip side is the heavy litigation of the industry -- watch late-night cable and you can't miss an ad for plaintiffs wanting to sue DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson company, where it was recently reported the number oflawsuits are over 4,000.
As we also observed back in August, Pluristem's platform technology in just that one indication could open up more opportunities within the huge $2.2 billion sports medicine market. In less than a year, that promise looks to become a reality.
A check with our orthopedic physician contacts revealed that hopes for stem cell therapy in sports medicine was originally pinned on repairing and restoring injured cartilage, particularly because such a treatment would have far-reaching medical promise for arthritis. Then came monoclonal antibodies, like the now widely-used Humira by Abbott Laboratories, and for a time stem cells in orthopedics was forgotten. Pluristem's new trials in shoulders, along with hips, target two major joints in the human anatomy that take on a lot of strain in active individuals, and should grab much attention as results from the studies are publicized.
All told, a great call for Pluristem. Medically, they are going after high-cost, high growth markets where orthopedic doctors are considered the tinkerers of hands-on surgeons. These practitioners love to experiment and their own hospital departments are usually second only to cardiology in pulling in big numbers. From a global marketing standpoint, the choice of branching out into sports medicine is brilliant. Pluristem has demographics in their favor and with healthcare economics in a never-ending downward spiral, a new and less invasive treatment with PLX-PAD cells offering reduced post-operative downtime will be the way healthcare insurers (and patients) want to go.
Disclosure: None
Excerpt from:
Pluristem Carving Out Distinct Niche in Orthopedic Medicine With New Clinical Trials in Rotator Cuff Repair
- Stem Cells In Human Trials - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- NZ Stemcell Trials - Part One - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- CIRM Major Facilities Speed Stem Cell Science and Create Jobs - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- Geron's Embryonic Stem Cell Clinical Trial for Spinal Cord Injury - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- Hans Keirstead - Stem Cell Research Human Clinical Trials - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- Stem-Cell Human Trials - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- Geron: FDA Clearance for Human Clinical Stem Cell Trials - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- Eric Legrand Rutgers University shout out, Listen up! - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- How to Mend a Broken Heart - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- Human Embryonic Stem Cell History! - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- Robert Lanza - ACT - Stem cells and organ cloning interview - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- Toonari Post Health News: Europe's first clinical trial using human embryonic stem cells - September 23rd, 2011 [September 23rd, 2011]
- Diabetes: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Ed Baetge - September 23rd, 2011 [September 23rd, 2011]
- Talking Apes being created by Science | Planet of the Apes, here we come! - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Health news: Internet use, sleep, human stem cell research - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Geron - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Batten Disease: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - A Father's Story - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- The Frankenstein Syndrome Trailer - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Leukemia: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Patient Stories - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Geron Corp. Initiates First Human Study Of Embryonic Stem-Cell Therapy - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Cardiovascular Therapies: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Yung-Wei Chi - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Stemcells come alive: Fix Mouse with severed spine ABCnews - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- StemCells Gains 5% on Neural Stem Cell Trial in Spinal Cord Injury - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Stem-Cell Research on Animals - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- First hESC Therapy Clinical Trial - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Stem Cell Testing on Human Subjects [Officially] Begins • NBC Nightly News • October 11th, 2010 - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Leukemia: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Catriona Jamieson - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- First stem cell trial begins - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Parkinson's Disease: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Arnold Kriegstein - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Becoming a Blood Stem Cell Donor - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Stem cells might be able to reverse the effects of a heart attack. - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- Horse Stem Cell Video.mp4 - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Stem cell trials to begin - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS): Progress and Promise in Stem Cell Research - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Hans Keirstead - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Stem Cell Quiz - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- NZ Stemcell Trials - Part Two - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Drug Trials in a Dish - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Rise and Walk - September 25th, 2011 [September 25th, 2011]
- Catriona Jamieson: Therapies Based on Cancer Stem Cells - September 27th, 2011 [September 27th, 2011]
- Vatican lending hand in adult stem cell research - September 28th, 2011 [September 28th, 2011]
- Why STEM-Enhance? - September 28th, 2011 [September 28th, 2011]
- Genetic Underpinnings of Alopecia Areata - September 29th, 2011 [September 29th, 2011]
- Batten Disease: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Ann Tsukamoto - September 29th, 2011 [September 29th, 2011]
- stem cell trial for leading causes of blindness - October 9th, 2011 [October 9th, 2011]
- Forbes Discusses Stem Cell Research - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Bruce Conklin: Drug screening with stem cells - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment Beginning - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Rise and Walk - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Mesenchymal Stem Cell Trials - Video - October 14th, 2011 [October 14th, 2011]
- Spinal Cord Injury: Progress and Promise in Stem Cell Research - Video - October 14th, 2011 [October 14th, 2011]
- Better Drugs Through Stem Cells - Video - October 16th, 2011 [October 16th, 2011]
- Adult Stem Cells Used To Rebuild Heart Tissue / Video - Video - October 16th, 2011 [October 16th, 2011]
- GARY RABIN- ADVANCED CELL TECHNOLOGIES 2011 - Video - October 21st, 2011 [October 21st, 2011]
- Stem cell treatment on horse a success, vet says - Video - October 21st, 2011 [October 21st, 2011]
- MAJOR EMBRYONIC STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGHS - Video - October 22nd, 2011 [October 22nd, 2011]
- Batten Disease: Spotlight on Stem Cell Research - Stephen Huhn - Video - November 13th, 2011 [November 13th, 2011]
- Human Cloning has Begun | Playing God? - Video - November 15th, 2011 [November 15th, 2011]
- Diabetes: Advancing Stem Cell Therapies - 2011 CIRM Grantee Meeting - Video - November 15th, 2011 [November 15th, 2011]
- Brain Tumors: Advancing Stem Cell Therapies - 2011 CIRM Grantee Meeting - Video - November 15th, 2011 [November 15th, 2011]
- Double Blind Trial of Stem Cells for Heart Failure - Video - December 4th, 2011 [December 4th, 2011]
- Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy Clinical Trial - Video - December 4th, 2011 [December 4th, 2011]
- Glasgow Hospital Conducts First Stem Cell Trials on Stroke Patients - Video - December 4th, 2011 [December 4th, 2011]
- Dr Dietrich discusses the Geron stem cell trial to treat acute spinal cord injury - Video - December 4th, 2011 [December 4th, 2011]
- Stem Cell Research Today: Larry Goldstein - CIRM Science Writer's Seminar - Video - December 7th, 2011 [December 7th, 2011]
- Stem Cell Clinical Trial for Heart Failure: Eduardo Marban - CIRM Spotlight on Disease - Video - December 22nd, 2011 [December 22nd, 2011]
- Clinical trials and stem cells: what patients should consider - Video - January 2nd, 2012 [January 2nd, 2012]
- Spare Parts for Humans: Tissue Engineers Aim for Lab-Grown Limbs, Lungs and More - Video - January 4th, 2012 [January 4th, 2012]
- CIRM Grant Writing: RFA's - Where does your Project Fit? - Video - January 5th, 2012 [January 5th, 2012]
- Prometheus and I: building new body parts from stem cells (15 Nov 2011) - Video - January 5th, 2012 [January 5th, 2012]
- News Bulletin 18 November 2011 -- The Christian Institute - Video - January 5th, 2012 [January 5th, 2012]
- The Brain on Trial: How Neuroscience Challenges the Law as We Know It - Video - January 5th, 2012 [January 5th, 2012]
- The Human Genome and Individualized Medicine - David Valle, MD - Video - January 5th, 2012 [January 5th, 2012]
- 2010 Professional of Distinction - Discovery Awards - Video - January 23rd, 2012 [January 23rd, 2012]
- Research at The Nebraska Medical Center Biologics Production Facility - Video - January 24th, 2012 [January 24th, 2012]
- ACT Announces Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland as Additional Site for Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial Using hESC-Derived ... - January 30th, 2012 [January 30th, 2012]
- StemCells, Inc. Announces Publication of Preclinical Data Demonstrating Its Human Neural Stem Cells Preserve Vision - January 31st, 2012 [January 31st, 2012]
- $30 million donation from Boris family will help McMaster turn stem cell research into therapy - February 6th, 2012 [February 6th, 2012]
- Stem Cell Treatment For Blindness Shows Promise In Trials - February 7th, 2012 [February 7th, 2012]
- ACT Announces Third Patient with Stargardt’s Disease Treated in U.S. Clinical Trial with RPE Cells Derived from ... - February 13th, 2012 [February 13th, 2012]