This week in the stem cell field, all eyes are on Asterias Biotherapeutics, a California-based company that’s testing a stem cell based-therapy in a CIRM-funded clinical trial for spinal cord injury patients. The company launched its Phase 1/2a clinical trial back in 2014 with the goal of determining the safety of the therapy and the optimal dose of AST-OPC1 cells to transplant into patients.

AST-OPC1 cells are oligodendrocyte progenitor cells derived from embryonic stem cells. These are cells located in the brain and spinal cord that develop into support cells that help nerve cells function and communicate with each other.

Asterias is transplanting AST-OPC1 cells into patients that have recently suffered from severe spinal cord injuries in their neck. This type of injury leaves patients paralyzed without any feeling from their neck down. By transplanting cells that can help the nerve cells at the injury site reform their connections, Asterias hopes that their treatment will allow patients to regain some form of movement and feeling.

And it seems that their hope is turning into reality. Yesterday, Asterias reported in a news release that five patients who received a dose of 10 million cells showed improvements in their ability to move after six months after their treatment. All five patients improved one level on the motor function scale, while one patient improved by two levels. A total of six patients received the 10 million cell dose, but so far only five of them have completed the six-month follow-up study, three of which have completed the nine-month follow-up study.

We’ve profiled two of these six patients previously on the Stem Cellar. Kris Boesen was the first patient treated with 10 million cells and has experienced the most improvement. He has regained the use of his hands and arms and can now feed himself and lift weights. Local high school student, Jake Javier, was the fifth patient in this part of the trial, and you can read about his story here.

Kris Boesen, CIRM spinal cord injury clinical trial patient.

Jake Javier and his Mom

The lead investigator on this trial, Dr. Richard Fessler, explained the remarkable progress that these patients have made since their treatment:

“With these patients, we are seeing what we believe are meaningful improvements in their ability to use their arms, hands and fingers at six months and nine months following AST-OPC1 administration. Recovery of upper extremity motor function is critically important to patients with complete cervical spinal cord injuries, since this can dramatically improve quality of life and their ability to live independently.”

Asterias will continue to monitor these patients for changes or improvements in movement and will give an update when these patients have passed the 12-month mark since their transplant. However, these encouraging preliminary results have prompted the company to look ahead towards advancing their treatment down the regulatory approval pathway, out of clinical trials and into patients.

Asterias CEO, Steve Cartt, commented,

Steve Cartt, CEO of Asterias Biotherapeutics

“These results to date are quite encouraging, and we look forward to initiating discussions with the FDA in mid-2017 to begin to determine the most appropriate clinical and regulatory path forward for this innovative therapy.”

 

Talking with the US FDA will likely mean that Asterias will need to show further proof that their stem cell-based therapy actually improves movement in patients, rather than the patients spontaneously regaining movement (which has been observed in patients before). FierceBiotech made this point in a piece they published yesterday on this trial.

“Those discussions with FDA could lead to a more rigorous examination of the effect of AST-OPC1. Some patients with spinal injury experience spontaneous recovery. Asterias has put together matched historical data it claims show “a meaningful difference in the motor function recovery seen to date in patients treated with the 10 million cell dose of AST-OPC1.” But the jury will remain out until Asterias pushes ahead with plans to run a randomized controlled trial.”

In the meantime, Asterias is testing a higher dose of 20 million AST-OPC1 cells in a separate group of spinal cord injury patients. They believe this number is the optimal dose of cells for achieving the highest motor improvement in patients.

2017 will bring more results and hopefully more good news about Asterias’ clinical trial for spinal cord injury. And as always, we’ll keep you informed with any updates on our Stem Cellar Blog.