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Arcadia, Calif.-based StemCyte Inc. said on February 26 that it has signed a research and licensing agreement with Rutgers University (N.J.) for a spinal cord injury therapy being developed by Rutgers researcher Wise Young, M.D., Ph.D.
The therapy uses StemCyte’s proprietary human umbilical cord blood (UCB) stem cells in conjunction with lithium.
StemCyte will help pay for Young’s work at Rutgers’ W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience in exchange for exclusive commercialization rights to the therapy.
If the product or other assets resulting from the collaboration are successfully commercialized, Rutgers will receive royalties.
“We have provided UCB products to support Dr. Young’s research for several years,” said CEO Kenneth J. Giacin. “By combining our expertise in UCB stem cells with Dr. Young’s experience in spinal cord injury research, we believe that we can develop a treatment that will hold great promise for patients.”
Young’s previous research resulted in the administration of high doses of methylprednisolone within eight hours of an injury becoming the first and only available therapy for spinal cord injury.
He has now conducted preclinical studies at Rutgers’ Keck Center to determine the growth factor stimulation of stem cells treated with lithium salt.
From these studies, Young concluded that UCB stem cells are the only type of stem cells that, when treated with lithium salt, have a neurotrophic effect that may be used to effectively treat spinal cord injuries.
A patent application for his invention has been previously submitted.
“UCB stem cells have a greater production or expression of growth factors such as cell survival factors, anti-differentiation factors and combinations than other types of stem cells when treated with lithium salt,” Young said. “As a result, we believe that these cells will have significant therapeutic benefit and hope to treat our first patient in clinical trials later this year.”
UCB is a readily available source of stem cells.
The company said UCB stem cells have been used successfully in approximately 10,000 patients for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, congenital blood disorders and immune deficiency diseases.
Contact: http://www.stemcyte.com
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