Neuralstem announced that the first patient was treated last week in the Phase I trial testing of NSI-566 human neural stem cells in the treatment of chronic spinal cord injury at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
The trial will treat four patients, who have thoracic spinal cord injuries, with stem cell transplants directly into the region of the injury, between one and two years post-injury. The principal investigator is Joseph Ciacci, MD, a neurosurgeon at UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health System.
The trial is funded by Neuralstem. "The goal of this study is to evaluate the safety of transplanting neural stem cells into the spine for what could one day be a treatment for spinal cord injuries," said Dr. Joseph Ciacci. "The study's immediate goal, however, is to determine whether injecting these neural stem cells into the spine of patients with spinal cord injury is safe."
The first patient treated with the stem cells has been discharged from the hospital.
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