Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
improved six months post-implantation in comparison to controls
without the implanted stem cells in people with moderate to severe
congestive heart failure (Lower, 2011). The company is also working
on protocols that would improve healing and recovery rates after a
heart attack by injecting Revascor™ into the artery at the same time
as a patient has surgery to remove any blockages (
http://www.
mesoblast.com
). They are anticipating that the current survival rates
of patients post-heart attack could be improved significantly (
http://
www.mesoblast.com
).
In addition to the clinical trials mentioned above, other clinical
goals not quite at the same stage are currently under development.
Mesoblast is working on using their proprietary technology in
developing treatments for Type II diabetes ('Diabetes',
http://www.
mesoblast.com
). Pre-clinical studies in mice have shown that the
number of insulin-producing cells improved after a single injection
of MPCs into the pancreas ('Diabetes',
http://www.mesbolast.com
).
The use of MPCs in
ex vivo
culturing of cord-blood cells is also
being trialled in the US under the Orphan Drug Act ('Oncology',
http://www.mesoblast.com
). Preliminary results have shown that
using MPCs in the expansion process can significantly speed up the
time required for growing a clinically useful amount of cord blood
('Oncology',
http://www.mesoblast.com
). Mesoblast is also working
towards developing treatments modelled on MPC injections into the
eye for macular degeneration and diabetes-related vision loss,
although these are at the very early stage of development ('Eye
disease products',
http://www.mesoblast.com
).
4.2.2 Example2:Regeneus
Regeneus is another Australian-based company in the adult stem cell
sector (
http://www.regeneus.com
). They have been working with
mesenchymal stem cells derived from fat. As mentioned before, a
clinical product Regeneus has been developing has proven successful
in treating osteoarthritis in dogs and, more unusually, a rare
degenerative joint condition in a snow leopard (Smith, 2010), with the
product moving into human clinical trails on osteoarthritis in 2011.
