Kris Boesen

Stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury offers improved chance of independent life for patients

/ Kevin McCormack / 15 Comments
kris-boesen

Kris Boesen, CIRM spinal cord injury clinical trial patient works to strengthen his upper body. (Photo/Greg Iger)

A spinal cord injury is devastating, changing a person’s life in a heartbeat. In the past there was little that doctors could do other than offer pain relief and physical therapy to try and regain as much muscle function as possible. That’s why the latest results from the CIRM-supported Asterias Biotherapeutics spinal cord injury trial are so encouraging.

Asterias is transplanting what they call AST-OPC1 cells into patients who have suffered injuries that left them paralyzed from the neck down.  AST-OPC1 are oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, which develop into cells that support and protect nerve cells in the central nervous system, the area damaged in spinal cord injury. It’s hoped the treatment will restore connections at the injury site, allowing patients to regain some movement and feeling.

The latest results seem to suggest they are doing just that.

In a news release, Asterias reports that of the 25 patients treated in this clinical trial none have experienced serious side effects. They also reported that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests show that more than 95 percent of the patients have shown evidence of what’s called “tissue matrix” at the injury site. This is encouraging because it suggests the implanted cells are engrafting and helping prevent a cavitation, a serious process that often occurs in spinal cord injuries and can lead to permanent loss of muscle and sensory function plus chronic pain.

The study also shows that after six months:

  • 100 percent of the patients in Group 5 (who received 20 million cells) have recovered at least one motor level (for example increased ability to use their arms) on at least one side
  • Two patients in Group 5 recovered one motor level on both sides
  • Altogether four of the 25 patients have recovered two or more motor levels on at least one side.

Not surprisingly Ed Wirth, the Chief Medical Officer at Asterias, was pleased with the results:

“The results from the study remain encouraging as the six-month follow-up data continued to demonstrate a positive safety profile and show that the AST-OPC1 cells are successfully engrafting in patients.”

While none of the patients are able to walk, just regaining some use of their arms or hands can have a hugely important impact on their quality of life and their ability to lead an independent life. And, because lifetime costs of taking care of someone who is paralyzed from the neck or chest down can run as high as $5 million, anything that increases a patient’s independence can have a big impact on those costs.

The impact of this research is helping change the lives of the patients who received it. One of those patients is Jake Javier. We have blogged about Jake several times over the last two years and recently showed this video about his first year at Cal Poly and how Jake is turning what could have been a life-ending event into a life-affirming one.

 

Good news from Asterias’ CIRM-funded spinal cord injury trial

/ Karen Ring / 5 Comments

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.

astopc1AST-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.

Kris Boesen, CIRM spinal cord injury clinical trial patient.

jake_javier_stories_of_hope

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

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.

First spinal cord injury trial patient gets maximum stem cell dose

/ Kevin McCormack / 3 Comments
kris-boesen

Kris Boesen, CIRM spinal cord injury clinical trial patient.

There comes a pivotal point in every experiment where you say “ok, now we are going to see if this really works.” We may be at that point in the clinical trial we are funding to see if stem cells can help people with spinal cord injuries.

Today Asterias Biotherapeutics announced they have given the first patient in the clinical trial the highest dose of 20 million cells. The therapy was administered at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) in San Jose, California where Jake Javier – a young man who was treated at an earlier stage of the trial – was treated. You can read Jake’s story here.

The goal of the trial is to test the safety of transplanting three escalating doses of AST-OPC1 cells. These are a form of cell called oligodendrocyte progenitors, which are capable of becoming several different kinds of nerve cells, some of which play a supporting role and help protect nerve cells in the central nervous system – the area damaged in spinal cord injury.

In a news release, Dr. Edward Wirth, Asterias’ Chief Medical Officer, says this could be a crucial phase in the trial:

“We have been very encouraged by the early clinical efficacy and safety data for AST-OPC1, and we now look forward to evaluating the 20 million cell dose in complete cervical spinal cord injury patients. Based on extensive pre-clinical research, this is in the dosing range where we would expect to see optimal clinical improvement in these patients.”

To be eligible, individuals have to have experienced a severe neck injury in the last 30 days, one that has left them with no sensation or movement below the level of their injury, and that means they have typically lost all lower limb function and most hand and arm function.

In the first phase individuals were given 2 million cells. This was primarily to make sure that this approach was safe and wouldn’t cause any problems for the patients. The second phase boosted that dose to ten million cells. That was thought to be about half the therapeutic dose but it seemed to help all those enrolled. By 90 days after the transplant all five patients treated with ten million cells had shown some level of recovery of at least one motor level, meaning they had regained some use of their arms and/or hands on at least one side of their body. Two of the patients experienced an improvement of two motor levels. Perhaps the most impressive was Kris Boesen, who regained movement and strength in both his arms and hands. He says he is even experiencing some movement in his legs.

All this is, of course, tremendously encouraging, but we also have to sound a note of caution. Sometimes individuals experience spontaneous recovery after an accident like this. The fact that all five patients in the 10 million cell group did well suggests that this may be more than just a coincidence. That’s why this next group, the 20 million cell cohort, is so important.

As Steve McKenna, Chief of the Trauma Center at SCVMC, says; if we are truly going to see an improvement in people’s condition because of the stem cell transplant, this is when we would expect to see it:

“The early efficacy results presented in September from the 10 million cell AIS-A cohort were quite encouraging, and we’re looking forward to seeing if those meaningful functional improvements are maintained through six months and beyond. We are also looking forward to seeing the results in patients from the higher 20 million cell AST-OPC1 dose, as well as results in the first AIS-B patients.”

For more information about the Asterias clinical trial, including locations and eligibility requirements, go here: www.clinicaltrials.gov, using Identifier NCT02302157, and at the SCiStar Study Website (www.SCiStar-study.com).

We can never talk about this clinical trial without paying tribute to a tremendous patient advocate and a great champion of stem cell research, Roman Reed. He’s the driving force behind the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act  which helped fund the pioneering research of Dr. Hans Keirstead that laid the groundwork for this clinical trial.

 

 

Asterias’ stem cell clinical trial shows encouraging results for spinal cord injury patients

/ Kevin McCormack / Leave a comment
jake and family

Jake Javier; Asterias spinal cord injury clinical trial participant

When researchers are carrying out a clinical trial they have two goals: first, show that it is safe (the old “do no harm” maxim) and second, show it works. One without the other doesn’t do anyone any good in the long run.

A few weeks ago Asterias Biotherapeutics showed that their CIRM-funded stem cell therapy for spinal cord injuries appeared to be safe. Now their data suggests it’s working. And that is a pretty exciting combination.

Asterias announced the news at the annual scientific meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society in Vienna, Austria. These results cover five people who got a transplant of 10 million cells. While the language is muted, the implications are very encouraging:

“While early in the study, with only 4 of the 5 patients in the cohort having reached 90 days after dosing, all patients have shown at least one motor level of improvement so far and the efficacy target of 2 of 5 patients in the cohort achieving two motor levels of improvement on at least one side of their body has already been achieved.”

What does that mean for the people treated? A lot. Remember these are people who qualified for this clinical trial because of an injury that left them pretty much paralyzed from the chest down. Seeing an improvement of two motor levels means they are regaining some use of their arms, hands and fingers, and that means they are regaining the ability to do things like feeding, dressing and bathing themselves. In effect, it is not only improving their quality of life but it is also giving them a chance to lead an independent life.

kris-boesen

Kris Boesen, Asterias clinical trial participant

One of those patients is Kris Boesen who regained the use of his arms and hands after becoming the first patient in this trial to get a transplant of 10 million cells. We blogged about Kris here

Asterias says of the 5 patients who got 10 million cells, 4 are now 90 days out from their transplant. Of those:

  • All four have improved one motor level on at least one side
  • 2 patients have improved two motor levels on one side
  • One has improved two motor levels on both sides

What’s also encouraging is that none of the people treated experienced any serious side effects or adverse events from the transplant or the temporary use of immunosuppressive drugs.

Steve Cartt, CEO of Asterias, was understandably happy with the news and that it allows them to move to the next phase:

“We are quite encouraged by this first look at efficacy results and look forward to reporting six-month efficacy data as planned in January 2017.  We have also just recently been cleared to begin enrolling a new cohort and administering to these new patients a much higher dose of 20 million cells.  We look forward to begin evaluating efficacy results in this higher-dose cohort in the coming months as well.”

People with spinal cord injuries can regain some function spontaneously so no one is yet leaping to the conclusion that all the progress in this trial is due to the stem cells. But to see all of the patients in the 10 million stem cell group do well is at the very least a positive sign. Now the hope is that these folks will continue to do well, and that the next group of people who get a 20 million cell transplant will also see improvements.

reed

Roman Reed, spinal cord injury patient advocate

While the team at Asterias were being cautiously optimistic, Roman Reed, whose foundation helped fund the early research that led to this clinical trial, was much less subdued in his response. He was positively giddy:

“If one patient only improves out of the five, it can be an outlier, but with everyone improving out of the five this is legit, this is real. Cures are happening!”

 

Young man with spinal cord injury regains use of hands and arms after stem cell therapy

/ Kevin McCormack / 26 Comments
kris-boesen

Kris Boesen – Photo courtesy USC

Hope is such a fragile thing. We cling to it in bad times. It offers us a sense that we can bear whatever hardships we are facing today, and that tomorrow will be better.

Kris Boesen knows all about holding on to hope during bad times. On March 6th of this year he was left paralyzed from the neck down after a car accident. Kris and his parents were warned the damage might be permanent.

Kris says at that point, life was pretty bleak:

“I couldn’t drink, couldn’t feed myself, couldn’t text or pretty much do anything, I was basically just existing. I wasn’t living my life, I was existing.”

For Kris and his family hope came in the form of a stem cell clinical trial, run by Asterias Biotherapeutics and funded by CIRM. The Asterias team had already enrolled three patients in the trial, each of whom had 2 million cells transplanted into their necks, primarily to test for safety. In early April Kris became the first patient in the trial to get a transplant of 10 million stem cells.

Within two weeks he began to show signs of improvement, regaining movement and strength in his arms and hands:

“Now I have grip strength and do things like open a bottle of soda and feed myself. Whereas before I was relying on my parents, now after the stem cell therapy I am able to live my life.”

The therapy involves human embryonic stem cells that have been differentiated, or converted, into cells called oligodendrocyte progenitors. These are capable of becoming the kind of cells which help protect nerve cells in the central nervous system, the area damaged in spinal cord injury.

The surgery was performed by Keck Medicine of USC’s Dr. Charles Liu. In a news release about the procedure, he says improvements of the kind Kris has experienced can make a huge difference in someone’s life:

dr-liu

Dr. Charles Liu, Keck School of Medicine: Photo courtesy USC

“As of 90 days post-treatment, Kris has gained significant improvement in his motor function, up to two spinal cord levels. In Kris’ case, two spinal cord levels means the difference between using your hands to brush your teeth, operate a computer or do other things you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, so having this level of functional independence cannot be overstated.”

We blogged about this work as recently as last week, when Asterias announced that the trial had passed two important safety hurdles.  But Kris’ story is the first to suggest this treatment might actually be working.

Randy Mills, CIRM’s President & CEO, says:

 “With each patient treated in this clinical trial we learn.  We gain more experience, all of which helps us put into better context the significance of this type of event for all people afflicted with debilitating spinal cord injuries. But let us not lose sight of the individual here.  While each participant in a clinical trial is part of the group, for them success is binary.  They either improve or they do not.  Kris bravely and selflessly volunteered for this clinical trial so that others may benefit from what we learn.  So it is fitting that today we celebrate Kris’ improvements and stop to thank all those participating in clinical trials for their selfless efforts.”

For patient advocates like Roman Reed, this was a moment to celebrate. Roman has been championing stem cell research for years and through his Roman Reed Foundation helped lay the groundwork for the research that led to this clinical trial:

“This is clear affirmative affirmation that we are making Medical History!  We were able to give a paralyzed quadriplegic patient back the use of his hands! With only half a clinical dosage. Now this person may hold and grasp his loved ones hands in his own hands because of the actions of our last two decades for medical research for paralysis CURE! CARPE DIEM!”

It’s not unheard of for people with the kind of injury Kris had to make a partial recovery, to regain some use of their arms and hands, so it’s impossible to know right now if the stem cell transplant was the deciding factor.

kris-2

Kris at home: photo courtesy USC

Kris’ dad, Rodney, says he doesn’t care how it happened, he’s just delighted it did:

“He’s going to have a life, even if (the progress) stops just this second, and this is what he has, he’s going to have a better life than he would have definitely had before, because there are so many things that this opens up the world for him, he’s going to be able to use his hands.”

Related Articles: