Pharmaprojects R&D Pipeline News Feed
Mesenchymal stem cells show their mettle
5rd Apr 2007
Osiris Therapeutics has announced positive Phase I results with Provacel, an adult mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy with potential as a cardiovascular therapy. These postnatal multipotent progenitor cells are similar to embryonic stem cells, but avoid the thorny issues surrounding the use of embryonic tissue as a stem cell source.
Provacel was safe and efficacious in heart attack patients, the Provacel cohort being 4 times less likely to experience an arrhythmic adverse event than the placebo group. The placebo group also showed significantly more ventricular arrhythmias, which can lead to scar formation and a poor prognosis. Provacel also effected an improvement in ejection fraction, a standard measure of the heart's ability to pump blood and an indicator of sudden cardiac arrest risk. An added benefit was a positive effect on pulmonary function, providing the first placebo-controlled evidence of the potential of MSC-based therapeutics in lung disorders.
According to our research, there are currently 64 stem cell therapeutics in active development. Twelve programmes utilise MSCs, with 5 of these in the clinic and 4 no longer in active development. This demonstrates that while progress is being made moving MSC-derived products into clinical development, there is still a heavy reliance on embryonic stem cell sources. In the US this may prove problematic, since despite senate approval of a bill to expand embryonic stem cell research, President Bush is expected to exercise his veto over the bill. Adult stem cells may well be the best hope for the future of stem cell research in the US for now.
