Using Stem Cells For Stroke Treatment Trials ((CUR)
Neuralstem, Inc. (Amex: CUR) is not exactly a household name, not even in the world of stem cell research. The company announced today that it entered into a sponsored research agreement with the China Medical University & Hospital of Taiwan, in Taichung, Taiwan.
They will prepare for a human clinical trial using Neuralstem’s human spinal cord neural stem cells with the goal being to treat stroke patients. The therapy will focus on patients whose post-stroke symptoms, including complete or partial paralysis, have stopped improving more than six months after an ischemic stroke.
Ischemic stroke is caused by a blockage in a vessel supplying blood to the brain and is the most common type of stroke. According to the company, this affects more than 400,000 people in the United States yearly and it noted that there are about 6.5 million stroke survivors in the U.S. alone.
The pre-clinical program is expected to take between nine months to a year and will focus on qualifying Neuralstem’s existing Good Manufacturing Process spinal cord cells into a human trial program to treat post-stroke symptoms in Taiwan.
Neuralstem is supposed to have the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia.
It is also targeting major central nervous system diseases, such as Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, Huntington’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Neuralstem also has an Investigational New Drug Application under review with the FDA for ALS.
The size of the company is tiny. Its market cap is a mere $35 million on last look and we had the company’s cash balance listed at $3.567 million at the end of the March 31, 2009 quarter.
Jon C. Ogg
June 24, 2009
