First patient treated in Phase I/IIa regenerative medicine clinical trial for complete cervical spinal cord injury

Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (CA, USA), a biotechnology company focused on developing regenerative medicine therapies, has commenced a Phase 1/2a trial evaluating escalating doses of AST-OPC1 in newly injured patients with sensory and motor complete cervical spinal cord injury. At present there are no therapies or devices approved by the US FDA that can restore any function in individuals with recent spinal cord injuries (SCIs), despite over 12,000 people sustaining a SCI annually. Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (CA, USA) is carrying out a registration program for AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells), which has neurologically complete cervical SCI as the first targeted indication. After...