Company Uses Intravenous Stem Cells to Successfully Treat Alzheimer’s

An intravenous administration of allogeneic, human, ischemia-tolerant mesenchymal stem cells (itMSCs) in a pre-clinical animal model of Alzheimer’s disease has been successfully performed by Stemedica International, a subsidiary of Stemedica Cell Technologies, developing stem cell therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The first results of the experiment were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 14, 2014, and demonstrated a more than 30-percent decrease in amyloid beta (Abeta) plaques in the brain of transgenic animals treated with Stemedica itMSCs compared to the control group, which was administrated with lactated Ringer’s solution (LRS).

“Pre-clinical results show Stemedica International’s treatment reduces the amount of plaque as much as the best drug candidates to manage Abeta amyloidosis,” explained Stemedica International’s Chief Scientist Tristan Bolmont, Ph.D. “Most importantly, our itMSC treatment did not result in side effects, such as cerebral amyloid angiopathy and micro-hemorrhages.”

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More information will be shared during Dr. Bolmont’s talk at the Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Congress 2014, taking place in Boston, Massachusetts on September 15th at 2:30 p.m. ET. The company has already reported that “the combination of safety and efficacy of Stemedica’s itMSCs clears the pathway for Stemedica International to file an IND application with the FDA for clinical trials,” as noted by the Stemedica International’s General Manager Alexei Lukashev, Ph.D.

“We hope our stem cell treatment can halt or slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and, maybe, have some reverse effect on the damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, which the Alzheimer’s Disease Institute estimates afflicts more than 44 million people worldwide today,” he added.

To test the itMSCs, Stemedica International performed pre-clinical research for two years in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease at the Laboratoire d’Optique Biomedicale, headed by Professor Theo Lasser at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, supported by the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI).