Interested in stem cell developments.
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Graeme, whaddayamean, we've had chips on our shoulders forever and plenty of chips off the old block!
There's a timely article that has some great info.
Not that I take you seriously, risknreward1, but my guess is that ACTC already has some evidence that they can stop the progression of AMD and maybe even more than that.
This article is not properly dated and, I believe, is from quite away back. For one thing, Lanza is now Chief Scientific Officer as opposed to Vice-President of Medical and Scientific Development. I think he became CSO in 2007.
Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (ACTC): Geron’s Exit from Stem Cell Research Turns Spotlight on the Company
http://www.smallcapnetwork.com/Advanced-Cell-Technology-Inc-ACTC-Geron-s-Exit-from-Stem-Cell-Research-Turns-Spotlight-on-the-Company/s/via/7475/article/view/p/mid/1/id/24/
It is possible that with higher dosages they might see even more improvement, faster improvement, or more stable longer lasting improvement.
Fern, I hadn't, myself, previously heard of the nuns being in the trials. I can say that even the best news articles, especially in the stem cell area, often get some of the details wrong. You may be more up to date on the nuns than the journalist was. If nuns are in the trials that is certainly very interesting so I hope we will get additional clarification on that.
After Geron, Stem Cells’ New Saviors
Nov 18, 2011 11:23 AM EST
The biotech Geron may have abandoned its famous effort to treat paralyzed patients with stem cells—but two rivals are swooping in to do groundbreaking trials, Sharon Begley reports. So far, their results are even more promising.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/18/after-geron-stem-cells-new-saviors.html
<<The better known of the two, ACT, has the only other Food and Drug Administration–approved clinical trials using embryonic stem cells, as Newsweek recently described: one trial is for patients with Stargardt’s macular dystrophy and one is for age-related macular degeneration. Both diseases cause blindness. (The studies are notable because Catholic nuns are among the patients, even though the Vatican has condemned stem-cell research.)>>
For quite awhile now Geron has known that, so to speak, the second mouse was going to get the cheese (barring, of course, further severe financial management surprises at ACTC). For Geron it appears to be primarily a financial decision. I doubt there was any coordination of timing or anything else by Geron with ACTC. It seems likely there may have been rumors within the stem cell field of what might be developing (or not developing) at Geron but coordination with ACTC, I think not.
alaeloa, my understanding is that in the current trials there is virtually no chance of profound improvement because too many photoreceptors have already been lost in these patients. If, however, the RPE cells attach and begin to function there might be a relatively small number of photoreceptors still in marginal condition that could revive and improve in function and provide some improvement in vision. Again, it would not likely be a profound improvement in vision but any such improvement would be a quite incredible outcome and truly revolutionary.
Yes, Gary is doing well and seems to have some good things to report.
Maybe he will break out into "We Are the World." :)
scandal, Bush and the right wing evangelicals never did and still don't believe that the ACTC NED procedure doesn't harm the embryo. They have never wanted to understand or even clearly look at the procedure because they haven't wanted to consider the facts on this issue. They, in fact, did everything they could to drive ACTC out of business for developing a procedure that got around the Bush funding prohibition. The feelings expressed about ACTC were at times intense and violent. There were even times when Lanza even went back and forth to the lab wondering if today he would get shot at.
Geron Enrolls 1st Patient In Stem-Cell Treatment Study
10/11/2010
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Geron Corp. (GERN) said it has enrolled the first patient for its early stage human-embryonic stem-cell treatment for spinal cord injuries, less than two months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed a clinical hold on such therapies. The stem-cell testing, which the company called the world's first clinical trial of embryonic stem-cell therapy in humans, is to restore spinal cord function by injecting cells directly into the injured portion of the patient's spinal cord. The first patient is enrolled at Shepherd Center, a spinal-cord rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta. Participants will receive the stem-cell treatment for 14 days, the company said. "This clinical trial represents another step forward in Shepherd Center's involvement in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis in people with spinal cord injury," said David Apple, principal investigator of the trial at Shepherd Center. Embryonic stem cells can develop into many types of tissue and are thought to hold promise in treating a variety of diseases, although actual applications are still years from approval. Research for such cures is politically charged as it destroys human embryos, which are generally donated by couples who have created more than they needed during fertility treatments. Geron, like many other drug developers, hasn't been profitable. It said in July its second-quarter loss narrowed as revenue soared. It also announced encouraging mid-stage results for a breast cancer treatment two months ago. Shares closed Friday at $5.33 and were inactive premarket. The stock is down 17% the past year. -By Jodi Xu, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3037; jodi.xu@dowjones.com
NC State, Wake Forest collaborate to bring stem cell therapies to humans
[ACTC's Lanza is on the faculty with Anthony Atala at Wake Forest]
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2011/10/Life-Sciences-Stem-Cells-NC-State-Wake-Forest-Collaborate-To-Bring-Stem-Cell-Therapies-To-Humans/
This BOD appointment, as Biden once said, is big f'in deal.
Advanced Cell Tech and Ariad Pharmaceuticals -- Highly Scrutinized But Poised for Growth
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/advanced-cell-tech-and-ariad-pharmaceuticals-highly-scrutinized-but-poised-for-growth-2011-10-05
nmbr, ya think maybe Gary wanted this job because he too thinks the science at ACTC is great and will be great for many suffering from these diseases and that he also realizes ACTC will ultimately provide a lot more money than a few poker games will. Ya know, it's just possible that Gary is smart enough to now, for a number of reasons, be totally devoted to bringing this great ACTC venture to fruition in every way he possibly can. I'm just sayin'
ddls, only my opinion, of course.
"What I'm more curious to know is if the other patients are ready to go or not."
I have to say it is just about certain that the next patients have been chosen and are ready to go. There could be few minor things being worked on but the choosing of the patients has been done.
I wouldn't bet the farm on it since this chart doesn't have numbers on the axis but Page 13 in these slides from the recent ACTC presentation at the Rodman&Renshaw conference shows a chart that does make it look like the DSMB review for subjects 2 and 3 in each cohort does come earlier than for subject 1 in each cohort.
http://www.advancedcell.com/documents/0000/0347/act-corporate-presentation---rodman-&-renshaw-conference---september-2011---final.pdf
Good work, interstate. I hope you get a quick reply to that. Thanks.
The statement on the ACTC site for the Clinical Trials procedure in both studies is somewhat confusing but my understanding had been that it is the case that each subject will have the injection followed by a six week clinical course period and that will be followed by a four week follow-up period. If so, that would mean that the DSMB review would be made after six weeks of the clinical trial period and then four weeks of follow-up, ie ten weeks after the injection of the 3rd subject in each trial.
I would be happy to learn that the time period gets shorter after the first subject in each study but I need someone to find a clearer statement as to that being the case, the below doesn't make it fully clear. I think the four weeks of follow-up comes after the six week clinical course but I will be happy to hear that I am wrong.
********************************************
Dry AMD
Detailed Description:
This study will be a phase I/II, open-label, non randomized, sequential, multi-center safety and tolerability trial to evaluate the effect of subretinal injection of human embryonic stem cell derived retinal pigment epithelium cells in patients with dry AMD and to perform exploratory evaluation of potential efficacy endpoints to be used in future studies RPE cellular therapy. Patients will be enrolled sequentially, and the clinical course of each patient treated will be reviewed by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) before the next patient is enrolled.
Each eligible patient who signs a consent form and fulfills all (Inclusion/Exclusion) criteria will receive a single uniocular subretinal infusion of MA09-hRPE cells in one of four dose levels.
Three patients - 50,000 cells transplanted
Three patients - 100,000 cells transplanted
Three patients - 150,000 cells transplanted
Three patients - 200,000 cells transplanted
Six weeks after the first patient in each dose cohort receives the cell transplant, the DSMB will review the clinical data and recommend if the next two patients in the dose cohort may be treated. Each cohort of 3 patients will be reviewed by the DSMB when the 3rd patient completes 4 weeks of follow-up.
DSMB will begin its review six weeks after the 3rd patient is injected.
"Well we made Retiremement Planning News..."
And well we should, louisa. Certainly ACTC shares should be in everyone's Retirement Portfolio! :)
Stem Cell Trial Offers Hope to Blind
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/da838c46-e511-11e0-9aa8-00144feabdc0.html
ACT Secures First Patent for Generating Hemangioblast Cells to Treat a Broad Spectrum of Vascular and Hematopoietic Disorders
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ACT-Secures-First-Patent-for-prnews-531642312.html?x=0&.v=1
Looks like this could turn out to be good for Roslin (and partner ACTC):
Cash backing for stem cell research in Scotland
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gDlBwabhgg2_nqrfowkMTLzoiaQg?docId=N0360651315919186217A
The slide show for the presentation looks terrific and is now available here:
http://www.wsw.com/webcast/rrshq20/actc/
From Black and White Interview November 26th, 2010 by John Eastman:
So how will these therapies affect people who currently have these diseases? Are we talking about improvement of eyesight? Are we talking about perfect eyesight?
LANZA: There are two ways of looking at this – the main goal is that we replace the RPE so that we prevent further progression of the disease, and so obviously in the early patients, the patients who have advanced disease – [the goal] is to show they are safe and tolerated well. And of course, at any stage in this disease, these are progressive diseases, not only have you already lost photoreceptors, there are obviously many cells that are not in very good shape, they’re not very happy – to put it in generic, broader terms. So by putting in new healthy RPE we are hopefully going to improve the environment of photoreceptors, so that those photoreceptors that may not be in optimal shape can recover. And we may actually see an improvement in vision, just for that reason. But eventually, if everything goes as hoped for, and as planned, we would move to younger patients with earlier disease so we could prevent onset of blindness all together.
Lanza and others at ACTC have said that improved functioning of the RPE layer could result in also improving functioning of some of the still surviving photoreceptor cells and that might improve vision some but not dramatically and certainly would produce nothing like a cure of blindness (though it might be a dramatic change for those experiencing it) rather they refer to it as rescuing visual functioning from further degeneration towards blindness. The improved functioning is mostly in comparison to an eye that continues to degenerate because it did not receive the RPE treatment.
Nevertheless, we can recall that Lanza in Biocentrism does refer in some of his early work to seeing in the same petri dishes where RPE cells were forming also seeing the formation of photoreceptors (cones and rods). It does seem like a good possibility that once it has been demonstrated that the RPE layer can be adequately refurbished (preventing further loss of photoreceptors with maybe slight improvement of functioning in some of them) the next step (a good bit into the future) may well be to then provide photoreceptor cells to the compromised eye in order to substantially improve vision and, perhaps in some cases, to effectively cure blindness.
It is all speculation, of course, but it is even possible that Dr. Francis was not happy about not being chosen to administer the first injections, or at least one of them, to start the trials that are likely to be the first major step in establishing the incredible potential of Regenerative Medicine. Again, this is just one of several speculative possibilities.
ACTC has been appearing on the CNBC ticker every once in awhile for more than a few years. It does, however, seem to now be appearing a little more often and I do think we can say that in the future it will be appearing increasingly more often probably achieving daily status even before relocating to a new and presumably better exchange.
Seeing ACTC go by on the CNBC ticker was probably not a mistake, louisa. It has appeared there before in the past few years.
The reference in this article to Allied Cell Technology having been formed last year by ACTC and CHA is bizarre. ACTC and CHA formed Allied Cell Technology in the beginning of December of 2008 but by the end of December they had changed the name to Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine International (SCRMI). And just last month ACTC and CHA announced that SCRMI had now become a joint venture ceasing internal research activity and transitioning to a licensing entity. It makes one wonder who is writing these reports.
Actually the announcement of the start of the trial came on Thursday July 14 but it indicated the trial had already started on Tuesday July 12 so today should be the conclusion of the trial period for the first patient in each study.
MultiCell Technologies (OTCBB: MCET) has Value in Patents but can Clinical Stage Company Overcome Financial Mess
http://www.otcequity.com/?p=1187
Rabin says every significant Pharma in the U.S. and Europe with an interest the ophthalmic area has met with them at some point and many are closely following the progress of the trials.
Rabin states that ACTC expects next 12 months to be a period of great value generation.
MultiCell Technology and Aastrom Biosciences Aim to Shatter Stem Cell Myths
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/multicell-technology-and-aastrom-biosciences-aim-to-shatter-stem-cell-myths-2011-08-05?reflink=MW_news_stmp