Source: Stanford University School of Medicine
Date: September 20, 2011
Summary:
The Stanford University School of Medicine and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center have enrolled the fourth participant in the nation’s first trial of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. The phase-1, FDA-approved trial is meant to test the safety of the cells in up to 10 people with recent spinal cord injuries at seven trial sites across the United States.
The most recent patient was treated Sept. 17 at the Rehabilitation Trauma Center at SCVMC with cells prepared for injection at Stanford. Stanford neurosurgeon Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD, implanted the cells. Three other patients have previously received the surgically delivered cells: two at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta beginning in October of last year, and one at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago in May 2011. The Stanford/SCVMC patient is the first person to receive the therapy west of the Mississippi.
The Palo Alto Weekly and San Francisco Business Times carried news stories on this development today.
