Search Results for: diabetes

Weekly reads: Vertex, stem cells for MS, Athersys, 900-day paper review at Nature

“While still early, these results support the continued progression of our VX-880 clinical studies, as well as future studies using our encapsulated islet cells, which hold the potential to be used without the need for immunosuppression,” said Bastiano Sanna, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief of cell and genetic therapies at Vertex.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a lot going for it right now on the cell therapy front. For instance, they have the strongest type 1 diabetes cell therapy pipeline after some recent acquisitions. Still it’s not a simple matter to succeed in the cell therapy space even with one therapy for one targeted disease. Trials are tough […]

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Weekly reads: Vertex & CRISPR Therapeutics, Arnold Caplan death, MS genetics

CRISPR Therapeutics

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

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2023 stem cell predictions grades reflect wild year for regenerative medicine

stem cell predictions

Every year I make stem cell and regenerative medicine predictions. Looking at my predictions for 2023, they reflect a wild year but in many ways a good one overall. Below I have graded my 2023 predictions. Overall, my crystal ball gave solid results. Some of the predictions have been condensed to keep things concise, but you

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Can trying to cheat death paradoxically kill you sooner?

anti-aging, Dorian Gray

Can you paradoxically kill yourself early by trying to cheat Death? For example, die through risky anti-aging approaches? The question came to mind because such longevity efforts have become more extreme. They also get more hype in the media. I’ve been following the anti-aging space mainly because many interventions involve risky stem cell injections. Those

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Weekly reads: stem cells for MS, good news x2, extending dog years, Neuralink updates

stem cells for MS

For about as long as I’ve been writing The Niche, people have been asking about stem cells for MS. There’s a huge need for new therapies. While a chemo-based approach with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) looks to work for certain cases of multiple sclerosis (although not yet approved in the US), other cell

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3 cell therapy companies doing well: Vertex, Vericel, & Regeneron

Vericel, Cell Therapy Companies

Cell therapy companies face many hurdles. I wrote recently about four cell therapy biotechs that have been really struggling. Blogging here at The Niche for more than a dozen years, I’ve seen many companies even go under. That’s bad news for the field, for patients, and for investors. Today I wanted to highlight some cell therapy

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Burst Biologics unapproved biologic used by Weill Cornell: was there a cover-up?

Burst Biologics, Christopher Jones

The New York Times just broke a story on Burst Biologics and Weill Cornell that fits with long-standing troubling questions about regenerative biologics producers. The story also bears on the doctors and hospitals like Weill Cornell that were or are customers of the suppliers. Further, what is the FDA’s role in all of this? The

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Vivek Ramaswamy & his surprising stem cell start

Vivek Ramaswamy

Many of us first became aware of Vivek Ramaswamy as a Republican candidate for President. He was most well-known prior to that as a biotech leader. Given that biotech background, I decided to learn more about him. Surprisingly, his biomedical efforts may have started with stem cells. That caught my attention. This was way back during

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Weekly reads: MD Stem Cells, embryo models & headaches, cell therapy trial updates

dr. jeffrey weiss, MD Stem Cells

There is still plenty of reason to worry about unproven stem cells being marketed in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. I’ll start with a new item here in the U.S. on a firm called MD Stem Cells and end with a newly published paper about how things are going in Poland on this

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