Could various kinds of cell therapy help patients with COVID-19?
A variety of cell therapies, mostly focused on mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), have gotten cleared quickly in the U.S., China, and Israel and possibly other countries to be tested in patients with the novel coronavirus. I hope at least one proves helpful. It’s mostly a long shot, but some investigational products seem relatively speaking more promising than others.
Here are some of the main developments as of April 13, 2020. I will likely update this post with more firms and products. April 14th update: Here’s a very helpful cell therapy/COVID resource page from the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) that I highly recommend.
Athersys and MultiStem.
To my knowledge Athersys is the only cell therapy company to already have previous trial data relevant to COVID-19 so I put them first here. These data are from its past work on ARDS. For more on the Athersys approach see here. Their MultiStem product is bone marrow-derived but is not MSCs.
You can read my 2013 interview with CEO Gil Van Bokkelen here, which is interesting from a cell therapy field historical perspective as well.
Mesoblast and MSCs product remestemcel-L
Mesoblast’s MSC product remestemcel-L, more well-known for use with GvHD, has been green-lighted to be tested on COVID-19. For more on the Mesoblast approach see here.
Cynata and IPSC-derived MSC product Cymerus
Cynata is upbeat about testing its Cymerus MSC product for ARDS in COVID-19 patients in Australia.
CEO Ross Macdonald, “was quick to point out that what differentiates Cynata’s stem cell product from competitors is that its MSCs are derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and most stem cell companies rely on multiple donors to donate either bone marrow or adipose tissue as their primary tissue sources. From those sources they derive a small number of MSCs, which represent the starting material of their manufacturing process.”
Pluristem and placental stem cells
Israeli COVID-19 treatment shows 100% survival rate – preliminary data. Pluristem says some patients improved, but there were no controls. From the news article, “Six critically ill coronavirus patients in Israel who are considered high-risk for mortality have been treated with Pluristem’s placenta-based cell-therapy product and survived, according to preliminary data provided by the Haifa-based company.”
Here’s a newer news story out of New Jersey about a trial participant there. One passage says, “The cells, drawn from a human placenta, will hopefully aid the man’s immune response and could potentially also heal tissue damage to his lungs, said Drs. Ravit Barkama and Thomas Birch, who are clinical researchers at the hospital.”
Hope Biosciences and adipose MSCs
There are more MSC type cell therapy trials to move ahead including this one in Texas. FDA approves lab in Sugar Land to begin stem cell trial for COVID-19. From the news article, “A Sugar Land-based stem cell lab has been given approval by the FDA to study whether stem cells can be used to treat COVID-19 symptoms…The stem cell treatment could boost the immune systems of pre-symptom and high-risk patients, according to Hope Biosciences CEO Donna Chang. For example, elderly patients with pre-existing conditions who live in a nursing home could be given stem cell treatments.”
Celularity and placental NK cells
Their natural killer cell approach, originally designed to be tested on cancer patients, has received FDA clearance fora trial after being plugged by Rudy Giuliani. I’ve covered this odd situation here on The Niche. You might also find this The Scientist article useful. Beyond hoping for efficacy, this one in my view poses somewhat more risk than the stem cell ones so first of all I’m hoping they see safety.
Looking ahead
There are quite a few others out there in the cell therapy universe as well including many in China. Then there are also unproven stem cell clinic firms jumping in the mix too.
Disclosure: I have no financial interest in any of these companies or their competitors.
Adult CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in the systemic circulation are bone marrow-derived that have enhanced expressions of ACE2, and ACE2 shedding during in vitro hypoxic conditions. When transplanted into patients without a SARS-CoV-2 infection, these transplanted cells may be reparative for CVD. However, when transplanted into a Covid-19 patient, one may be perfusing the body with additional ACE2 entry points for the SARS-Cov_2 virus into the mobile and spreading BMSCs, and the engrafted tissue given the expression of ACE2 and proteases in the BMSCs.
And still no mention of CellTex in Houston approved by the FDA to infusion autologous MSCs in Texas. You deleted my inquiry last week. Why don’t you want to discuss CellTex?
What supposed CellTex “approval” by the FDA are you talking about? Do you have a link to that?
I only see posts on the web saying CellTex was saying that it was talking to and applying to the FDA for emergency expanded access, not that that was granted.
Autologous scale up is not cost effective it is a process or science experiment ….. when you do product requirement for scale up VS MCS from ISPC or Mesoblast process …..Second is potency on adult stems cells is lot less Google Robert Lanza papers and patents and eMSC for CD10 /CD24 levels of cytokines
University of Miami study of Cord Blood based cell therapy in Covid-19 patients received approval , lead by Professor C.Ricordi who used to focus on Diabetes Mellitus.
Two new News releases on 04/13/2020 ….. First out of Healios (Athersys Japanese Partner) ……
“April13, 2020 COVID-19ARDS patients added to Healios ONE-BRIDGE study” …..
https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/4593/tdnet/1815809/00.pdf ….
and that morning before the bell news from Athersys (athx) ……
“FDA Authorizes Athersys to Initiate a Pivotal Clinical Trial Evaluating MultiStem® Cell Therapy in Patients With COVID-19 Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome” ………
https://www.athersys.com/investors/press-releases/press-release-details/2020/FDA-Authorizes-Athersys-to-Initiate-a-Pivotal-Clinical-Trial-Evaluating-MultiStem-Cell-Therapy-in-Patients-With-COVID-19-Induced-Acute-Respiratory-Distress-Syndrome/default.aspx …….
lots more additional information located here and on the Reddit (Athersys) site …. ATHX Overview and Due Diligence links …… https://old.reddit.com/r/ATHX/comments/fxg3vz/athx_overview_and_due_diligence_links/
https://hospitalhealthcare.com/covid-19/realist-covid-19-trial-initiated/
https://www.hra.nhs.uk/covid-19-research/approved-covid-19-research/227090/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04333368
https://www.lequotidiendumedecin.fr/actus-medicales/sante-publique/covid-19-avec-lessai-stroma-cov-2-lap-hp-mise-sur-les-cellules-stromales-mesenchymateuses-de-sang-de
I am surprised that you did not include this trial at U of Miami, especially since it is being funded by a non-profit organization. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/tca-nct040920.php
Interesting in a previous article you wrote highlighting Mesoblast had run a small study out of China and in this later dated article you state that Athersys is the only company to your knowledge that has previous trial data related to COVID-19. I know which company I would be more interested in and it wouldn’t be Athersys.
Mesoblast is much further advanced in clinical study’s.
No, I said Mesoblast cited a small Chinese study.