The big news broke Friday that the FDA approved two new gene therapies for sickle cell disease. While the approvals were expected and the actual use of these treatments will be complex on several levels, this is a historic development. 2 FDA-approved gene therapies for sickle cell Friday’s news follows on recent UK approval for […]
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
Weekly reads: stem cells for MS, good news x2, extending dog years, Neuralink updates Read More »
The FDA issued a statement this week that there have been reports of new cases of blood cancer after patients received CAR-T therapies. The FDA specifically mentions T cell malignancies. New cancers in rare cases? In the announcement, FDA Investigating Serious Risk of T-cell Malignancy Following BCMA-Directed or CD19-Directed Autologous Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell
Some CAR-T may very rarely cause new cancers Read More »
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
3 cell therapy companies doing well: Vertex, Vericel, & Regeneron Read More »
Paolo Macchiarini is one of a small group of people in the stem cell universe whose misconduct has blown up in the press. Piero Anversa, Haruko Obokata, Hwang Woo-Suk, and some operators in the unproven stem cell clinic sphere come to mind. Macchiarini published quite a few seriously problematic papers, some of which just hung
Weekly reads: late Macchiarini retractions, stem cells & Lululemon Read More »
There’s been much discussion about issues related to stem cells in the reproductive space such as human embryo models and differentiating stem cells into gametes, but there’s also interest in stem cell-assisted IVF. In this kind of method, stem cells are employed to make tissue cells such as ovarian stromal cells to support production of
Weekly reads: stem cell-assisted IVF, Takeda MSC trial, reporters getting stem cells Read More »
A surfer news site reported that a man recently died after getting an unproven stem cell therapy in Mexico. The article is entitled Tragedy strikes in Mexico as Shane Dorian’s traveling companion for “life-altering” stem-cell therapy dies. Shane Dorian is a famous surfer who hopes to fight aging at 51. As part of that effort, Dorian
Man reportedly dies after getting unproven stem cell therapy in Mexico Read More »
Most of us have heard of organoids but what about the related model called an “assembloid”, which is a term growing in use including from organoid researcher Sergiu Pasca of Stanford? Before we jump into that, be sure to enter The Niche stem cell image contest for your chance to win $100 or some swag.
Once every year or two here on The Niche I run contests for best pictures or videos. Today’s new contest is for the best stem cell research pictures. Most often what people send in as entries are microscopy images, but you can use your imagination. Today is a fitting day to launch the contest as
The Niche 2023 stem cell picture contest: $100 or swag Read More »
I’ve been following 24 stem cell stocks for a few years. I haven’t invested in them or any others recently, but rather just find them interesting. How are these doing in 2023? Mostly not great. In some cases, it is downright disastrous. Let’s take a quick look at four stocks very much in the news over