Happy Frank won't be around to mislead us on timelines but mad about 6 month delay in patient trials. So this is turning out to be more of a test of patience that I originally thought when I bought last spring.
I am holding because of the enormous potential that exists for curing or partially reversing paralysis using some combination of stem cells and other adjunctive therapies combined with use of the biopolymer scaffold. This may take a long time to perfect WHICH combination actually creates the best outcome, but on the other hand, it might be a VERY SOON SOMEDAY if the right combination is found near the beginning phases of testing.
Last April I bought NVIV, which seems like eons ago, but in the lifecycle of biotech product development is only a short chapter. I bought because FDA reviewed and finally approved NVIV's biopolymer scaffold as a HUD to allow use in preliminary patient implants. The general consensus is that there are several stem cell lines that have shown some promise, but the techniques will have to be tested and refined to be optimally successful.
It appears plausible, based on animal testing, that the biopolymer matrix of the scaffold presents a healthy medium to allow spinal nerve regeneration while reducing or eliminating some of the more serious negative metabolic complications triggered by the body's response to injury that would normally kill off stem cells and cause scarring and prevent nerve regeneration. The fact that even short term progress was seen in a few monkey and rodent studies with the scaffold, and the fact that other stem cell therapies have independently been tested and shown significant promise in other tissue regrowth applications, means that FDA is going to have to allow the development of this science using the best and safest available technology as a starting point (i.e., InVivo's scaffold which is biodegradable). This is really the best way to give acute SCI paralysis victims some chance of having a recovery - really ANY recovery - that is better than the normal outcome which would be permanent paralysis. That is why I am invested, because the technology IS being moved ahead with the upcoming patient trials. And secondly, I do not feel NVIV is an all-eggs-in-basked company because the methyl prednisolone hydrogel, which they also hold a patent on, is a much broader application and based on a drug already used for many applications.
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