Deans' stroke musings: Athersys, University Hospitals partner for clinical trials of MultiStem for stroke

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Athersys, University Hospitals partner for clinical trials of MultiStem for stroke

Earlier I posted about using this for TBI. I can't tell if this is for chronic or acute. I do wonder how they plan to get thru the blood-brain barrier. Everyone should clamor to get involved.
http://www.medcitynews.com/2011/09/athersys-reveals-plans-for-phase-2-stroke-clinical-trial/
Stem cell developer Athersys (NASDAQ:ATHX) has taken the next of many steps toward commercializing its MultiStem therapy for stroke, the most promising application for the therapy.

The Cleveland-based company detailed its plans for a phase 2 ischemic stroke clinical trial that’s estimated to involve about 140 patients, according to ClinicalTrials.gov, a website maintained by the National Institutes of Health.

The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study is designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of treating stroke patients with MultiStem, an off-the-shelf stem cell treatment derived from the bone marrow of adults or other nonembryonic sources.

The trial is scheduled to start enrollment this month, with October 2013 estimated as the time frame for final data collection. The trial is expected to be completed by November 2014.

A company official declined comment.

The company believes MultiStem could represent a significant advancement in treating ischemic stroke patients. The technology has shown promise in reducing inflammation, protecting damaged tissue and forming new blood vessels.

Ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot in the brain and accounts for 87 percent of all stroke cases.

As for the reason that stroke is the most promising application of MultiStem — which is also being investigated for the treatment of heart attack, inflammatory bowel disease, orthopedics and blood diseases — it’s simple: stroke represents the largest market.

CEO Gil Van Bokkelen has pegged the potential stroke market at $15 billion.

Still, the company faces a long, bumpy road to commercialization, with any application of MultiStem unlikely to hit the market for at least four or five years.