“Latest Stem Cells News”

Adipose Stem Cell Heart Attack Trial Data Published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology; Cytori’s APOLLO Trial Demonstrated Safety & Feasibility and Improvements in Cardiac Function

Cytori Therapeutics announced today the publication of previously reported six-month outcomes from APOLLO, the Company’s European clinical trial evaluating adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack or AMI), as Research Correspondence in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The APOLLO trial was a 14-patient, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, feasibility trial (Phase I/IIA) evaluating autologous ADRCs extracted with the Company’s proprietary Celution® System for the treatment of patients suffering from acute myocardial infarction.

In the APOLLO trial all patients were treated with standard-of-care and subsequently underwent an abdominal liposuction. Each patient’s adipose tissue was processed by the Celution® System where ADRCs were extracted, washed and concentrated into a syringe of clinical grade cells. Within 36 hours of the myocardial infarction and no longer than 24 hours after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, patients received an injection of either 20 million ADRCs (n=10) or a placebo (n=4).

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Pfizer said Sunday that it was buying the rights to a somewhat controversial cell therapy from Athersys, a biotechnology company — a sign of big pharmaceutical companies’ growing interest in stem cells.

Pfizer will have the rights to develop Athersys’s cells to treat inflammatory bowel disease, the companies are expected to announce on Monday. It will pay Athersys $6 million initially and up to $105 million in the future.

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After much hope and controversy, for the first time stem cells have proven to have the ability to cure a disease. The news comes from a study on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) of the retina, the most common cause of blindness in individuals over the age of 50. The Sunday Times reports that the treatment was developed by a group of British researchers, who say that in the next six to seven years the treatment will become a routine operation, which will not last more than an hour. The treatment involves the replacement of a layer of degenerated cells with new cells created using embryonic stem cells, primitive cells that are able to transform into any type of human tissue.

AMD strikes the central area of the retina, the macula, which progressively deteriorates. Cloned retina cells are placed on an artificial membrane inserted into the posterior retina. The research was conducted by the department of ophthalmology of the University College of London and Morfields Hospital. Ethical controversy is inevitable because in order to create this type of stem cells embryos are used, which is explicitly allowed by British legislation. American pharmaceutical group Pfizer, said the Times, is supporting the study.

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