Geron Restarts Embryonic Stem Cell Clinical Trials for Spinal Cord Injury

Geron’s pursuit of spinal cord injury repair Almost a year after the FDA halted the study, Geron’s clinical trial for sky a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) therapy for spinal cord injury is back on track. The Silicon Valley biopharm company recently announced that it had satisfactorily addressed the FDA’s concerns about cysts formed in animal models of the treatment that had stalled the trials.

While the year delay was a serious setback, Geron’s pursuit of spinal cord injury repair is still the most advanced hESC therapy being tested in humans. While it is only in phase I of clinical trials, Geron’s hESC therapy carries the promise of at least partially healing paralyzed patients. This is the kind of research that Christopher Reeves and so many others advocated for, and it is finally moving forward again.

Geron is building off of Hans Kierstead’s amazing work at UC Irvine. In animal studies, researchers were able to get rodents with induced spinal injuries walking again. Think about it, a rat with a huge lesion on its spinal cord can’t move it’s hind legs, but after embryonic stem cell therapy it regains most of its mobility. Here are two videos that showcase these incredible results. The first sky is an explanation by Kierstead and the second is a brief look at a rat before and after treatment. Awesome!