BrainStorm set to start stem cells trial in 2010

[Big Mike]

The following article describes it more in detail:

Investors rain NIS 5.2 million down on BrainStorm to finish clinical trials - Haaretz - Israel News (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109907.html)

Successful animal trials have assured Petah Tikva-based biotech company BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics NIS 5.2 million in funding to complete pre-clinical trials for the treatment of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). The company, which is traded in the United States, develops adult stem cell technologies and therapeutics for neural diseases such as ALS and Parkinson's disease. It expects to begin phase I clinical studies on humans in 2010.

The new funding includes a prestigious grant from the Israeli government's Office of the Chief Scientist of NIS 1.7 million, with the remainder of the sum provided by the firm's controlling shareholder, ACCBT.

The investments were approved after a series of animal trials conducted in Israel over the past year and a half that proved the efficacy of BrainStorm's unique technology for transforming stem cells into injectable nerve cells with the aim of curing ALS sufferers.

Tens of thousands of people are afflicted with ALS, and development of a therapy that can halt nerve damage or slow muscle atrophy will open up a market estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.

The trials were led by Professor Eldad Melamed, former Head of Neurology at Rabin Medical Center, and cell biologist Dr. Daniel Offen, head of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the FTelsenstein Medical Research Center of Tel Aviv University, on whose research the patent is based. The patent itself is jointly owned by BrainStorm and the Tel Aviv University.

The results of the trials, which were conducted at laboratories in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv University, lead the firm's management to its decision to begin human trials in 2010, focusing on ALS.

The successful animal trials led ACCBT, which is owned by the firm's president Chaim Lebovits, to the decision to invest an additional $1 million for $0.12 per share - a premium of about 100% on the company's market price in the U.S.

Lebovits has invested a total of $5 million in BrainStorm. The Office of the Chief Scientist decided to continue to support the company for the third consecutive year, for a total of NIS 4.7 million.

[Jennifer51]

That is brilliant news.. cant come too soon for me.

[MtPockets]

Their stock has taken a nose dive to $.09 a share. It does not look like they will survive to complete any trials.

[peter57]

We can only hope.
Because one day they will find a cure. (soon we all hope)

As you all know there is research going on all over the world, even "Down Under" (i gave blood a swab and hair samples the other day to put in the gene bank held here for research)

Now if they can only get all the sums to add up i.e. 1+1 to =2 not 3 then we will be on the way.

cheers and keep positive thoughts.
Peter

[GlenBrittle]

Now Peter , you must agree that sometimes 1 on 1 conceives 3.

Glen

[peter57]

It might Glen in Canada ,but in Aus it almost all the time =2,

unless after a Friday night at the Pub it equalls 4 or 5 or sometimes even 6. I have never heard it equal 3
(too dam hard to say with a skin full of the secret ingredent for one of the cures posed last week, the sniffles cure by Zaphoon):D

cheers
Peter

[Big Mike]

Their stock has taken a nose dive to $.09 a share. It does not look like they will survive to complete any trials.

But with this news, their stocks may rise, I hope.

[Big Mike]

Now Peter , you must agree that sometimes 1 on 1 conceives 3.

Glen

:lol: Good one Glen.

[BarryG]

Now Peter , you must agree that sometimes 1 on 1 conceives 3.

Glen, only in Quebec, reminds me of that old movie "No sex please, we're British"

[peter57]

Glen,
I get your post now. very funny (always pays to read the posts carefully after the first cup of coffee)
It was early in the morning here.:D

[Blackpool]

Never give up hope,we might benifit yet.

[crystalkk]

You can't give up hope......

[Big Mike]

Hi all,

I made a mistake with the title of this thread: Brainstorm is expecting to start ALS trials in 2010, but it still has to approved for my the Israel Ministry of Health. They, are at this time, gearing up for final preclinical safety studies that will then allow them to apply for the trials, which they expect to start next year. Sorry for the mistake. However, that shouldn't detract from the promising work they are conducting, as explained in the following statement:

Brainstorm Announces Milestone Towards ALS Clinical Trials (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091005005734&newsLang=en)

Brainstorm Announces Milestone Towards ALS Clinical Trials
NEW YORK & PETACH TIKVAH, ISRAEL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (OTCBB:BCLI), a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies and therapeutics, announced today that bone marrow cells taken from ALS patients were capable of differentiating into nerve-supporting cells.

The company tested ALS patients' bone marrow stem cells in order to confirm that these stem cells could undergo BrainStorm’s differentiation procedure to secrete NeuroTrophic Factors (NTF) and used for treatment by back transplantation into the patients.

The experiments performed at BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics’ research laboratories showed that the stem cells isolated from bone marrow of healthy donors and ALS patients were similar, as indicated by all the morphological and biochemical parameters tested. In addition, the cellular expansion potential of stem cells from the healthy donors and from the patients was comparable. Most important, cells from both, the healthy donors and the patients, secreted NeuroTrophic Factors (NTF) after applying Brainstorm’s unique differentiation protocols.

BrainStorm will now complete all of its preparations for pre-clinical trials to be followed by clinical trials based on the company's proposed stem cell therapy.

Prof. Daniel Offen, Brainstorm’s Chief Scientist, said: ”The differentiated stem cells express specific proteins characteristic of brain (glial) cells and secrete NeuroTrophic Factors (NTF) , such as GDNF and BDNF, which are essential for survival of existing neurons and encourage the growth and regeneration of new neurons”.

He added that “Our results show that ALS patient's cells are capable of undergoing expansion and differentiation. Hence, it appears that bone marrow derived stem cells from ALS patients may be beneficial for therapy through autologous (self) transplantation, using Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics’ process."

As previously announced, Brainstorm has now begun the process of growing its NTF cells according to the regulatory authority standards at Protein Production Services (PPS) Ltd facilities. BrainStorm plans to proceed with final pre-clinical studies at Harlan Biotech Israel Ltd (HBI) whereby Brainstorm will be ready to submit an application for human clinical trials in Israel to the Ministry of Health.

Mike

[Big Mike]

The heading to this story is overly sensational but the science behind it is not:

http://http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/11/is-a-cure-for-als-around-the-corner/

[joelc]

Try this link
is-a-cure-for-als-around-the-corner/ (http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/11/is-a-cure-for-als-around-the-corner/)

[Big Mike]

Thanks for correcting the link, Joel. :-)

[rocmg]

The heading to this story is overly sensational but the science behind it is not:

http://http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/11/is-a-cure-for-als-around-the-corner/



ugh... Fox News blog. Probably an intern trying to earn brownie points. Looks like it took all of 15 minutes to conduct, transcribe and post that interview to web.

i'm sort of disgusted.

[Big Mike]

Well, like I said, it was an overly sensational headline but that doesn't mean Brainstorm doesn't have a significantly meaningful treatment on the horizon.