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Biotech / Medical : Biotransplant(BTRN)

BTRN 27.80

+0.6%

Jan 12 4:00 PM EST

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To: trevor john wilkinson who started this subject	9/7/2000 5:20:49 PM
From: sim1	Read Replies (1) of 1475

British Company to Use Stem Cells to Treat Stroke Last updated: 07 Sep 2000 12:36 GMT (Reuters) By Patricia Reaney LONDON (Reuters) - British biotechnology company ReNeuron said on Thursday it has developed a treatment using stem cells to treat stroke victims and hopes to begin human trials by the end of next year. Dr John Sinden, the chief scientific officer of the privately owned firm, told the British Association for the Advancement of Science conference the therapy worked well in animal studies. When the stem cells -- a sort of master cell that can be coaxed into becoming other cells -- are injected into the brains of rats which had suffered a severe stroke it restored their mobility "The ultimate goal is to provide a treatment for stroke," Sinden told a news conference in London. "We are planning to begin a small clinical trial in select patients by the end of next year using our initial immortal human stem cells," he added. CONTROVERSIAL TREATMENT WITH GREAT POTENTIAL ReNeuron Limited was formed in 1997 by the Institute of Psychiatry and three founder scientists to develop and apply research into the treatment of brain disorders. It is backed by Merlin Ventures, a leading British biotechnology investor. Stem cell research is a controversial area of science which offers great potential benefit for treating diseases ranging from stroke and Alzheimer's to cancer. Stem cells have the potential of differentiating into more specialized cells in the body. ReNeuron has developed a line of neural stem cells derived from embryonic tissue which, if successful, could provide a single injection treatment for stroke victims. The company inserts a gene into the cells to make them divide at low temperatures. But when the cells are inserted into the brain and reach normal body temperature the gene switches off and the cells stop dividing and differentiate into brain cells. The inserted stem cells will be specific for stroke. "Our approach is to take stem cells from different developing areas of the brain so that we can take a cell from the region that is most influenced in stroke and that will be our stroke cell line," Sinden said. The company is also working on treatments for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and other degenerative illnesses. "From a single sample (of tissue) we can generate about 100 different cell lines and any one of those cell lines could generate huge numbers of cells for this process," he explained. The company hopes to test the safety and efficacy of the treatment in an open trial of about a dozen stroke patients.

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