I confess that I’m old enough to remember when the acronym MSC stood unambiguously for “mesenchymal stem cells”, but should it refer to a broader term like “mesenchymal cells”? The field has moved in that direction. I think that’s the best way to go too and I’ll explain why. The goal of today’s post is …
Mesenchymal cells or MSCs: definition, clinical potential, challenges Read More »
What does a stem cell word cloud tell us about the field? Word clouds are fun and informative ways to do textual data mining. I’ve done some in the past that have providing penetrating looks at science including at the whole field of science in 2014. What has the stem cell field overall been focusing on …
Stem Cell Word Cloud: Mesenchymal Dominates in 2015 Read More »
A new paper on stem cells for paralysis from a Mayo Clinic team has sparked a bit of legitimate hope but also some hype in the media. The publication was in Nature Communications. It is entitled “Intrathecal delivery of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in traumatic spinal cord injury: Phase I trial.” The approach was direct injection …
Perspectives on new stem cells for paralysis paper & media coverage Read More »
The biotechs Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics have an interesting relationship as biotechs. They are partners are multiple levels but also are very different as companies including in size. There’s been a key development in one of their partnerships. Before we jump into that, please check out the video version of my 20 stem cell and …
Weekly reads: Vertex & CRISPR Therapeutics, Arnold Caplan death, MS genetics Read More »
One of the first regenerative medicine talks I ever saw was on stem cells for heart disease. I was still a trainee at the time. The professor, whom I won’t name, presented data from an early phase trial reporting that direct injections of some kind of cells right into the heart improved outcomes. Stem cells …
Put on a happy face? Perspectives on Mayo Clinic stem cells for heart disease Ph3 pub Read More »
The Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies or AABB recently had a very useful Q&A with the FDA on cord blood use. There are some important new things from the FDA on the marketing and use of cord blood in there. The agency was also quite blunt in some ways about the challenges, …
Surprising new FDA remarks to AABB on cord biologics misuse & stem cell clinics Read More »
Many avenues are being pursued to get stem cell therapy to the clinic for eye conditions. These different approaches employ a variety of stem cell types. In some cases, such as with iPS cells, the stem cells themselves are not transplanted. Instead, the iPS cells are used to make differentiated eye cells, such as RPE …
Weekly reads: stem cell therapy for eyes research, DMD, cheating death, cancer sensors Read More »
A days ago the news came about Mesoblast not getting FDA approval for its MSC product for GvHD. The MSC area has had a rough few years with various clinical trials including for COVID. The “stem cells for heart disease” arena has also had a tough time. Here’s more news along these lines: BioCardia pauses enrollment in PhIII trial …
Weekly reads: BioCardia, HeLa suit, illegal bio lab in CA Read More »
Australian biotech Mesoblast has had a rollercoaster ride working toward FDA approval of its mesenchymal cell therapy product remestemcel-L. They are seeking approval for use in patients with graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). More specifically, it is intended for pediatric patients with steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease, or SR-aGVHD. This is a serious condition and new treatment …
Hoping for approval, Mesoblast says FDA wants new remestemcel-L trial Read More »
From the beginning of the pandemic, I have been mostly skeptical about the idea of cell therapy for COVID including stem cell therapies. However, at the same time, I’ve closely followed the data, especially up until 2022. Now having just had a nasty bout with COVID myself for the first time this summer, I recently …
Update on stem cells & cell therapy for COVID trials Read More »