A US company has revealed it will start tests in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year

ATTEMPTS to bring people back from the dead could start in a few months, its been reported.

A US company has revealed it will start new stem cell therapy trials in an unidentified country in Latin America later this year.

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In the majority of countries, to be officially declared dead requires an complete and irreversible loss of brain function.

But Bioquark says it has developed a series of injections that can reboot the brain and bring people back to life, according to MailOnline.

CEO Ira Pastor revealed the firm will begin testing itsmethod on humans and have no plans to try it out on animals first.

Pastor and orthopaedic surgeon Himanshu Bansal initially hoped to carry out tests in India last year.

Butthe Indian Council of Medical Research pulled the plug on their plans and asked them to to take the trials elsewhere.

In details published on a clinical trials database, scientists plan to examine individuals aged between 15 and 65 who have been declared brain dead from a traumatic brain injury.

They intend to use MRI scans to look for possible signs of brain death reversal before carrying out the trial, which will happen in three stages.

The first step involves harvesting stem cells from the patients own blood before injecting them back into their body.

Then the patient would be given a dose of peptides injected into their spinal cord.

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Lastly they would undergo a 15-day course of laser and median nerve stimulation while monitoring the patient with MRI scans.

Consent is likely to be an issue for the researchers as technically all of the patients will be brain dead.

However the study detail states that it can accept written informed consent from the legally acceptable representative of the patient.

The Bioquark trials are part of a broader project called ReAnima, of which Pastor is on the advisory board.

The project explores the potential of cutting edge biomedical technology for human neuro-regeneration and neuro-reanimation.

Speaking to MailOnline last year, Pastor said: The mission of the ReAnima Project is to focus on clinical research in the state of brain death, or irreversible coma, in subjects who have recently met the Uniform Determination of Death Act criteria, but who are still on cardio-pulmonary or trophic support a classification in many countries around the world known as a living cadaver.

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Scientists set to trial new stem cell therapy to 'reawaken' the brain ... - The Sun

ByNEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

DOCTORS Hospital plans to launch stem cell therapy and enter the primary healthcare market during its current financial year, after profits for the year to end-January 2017 increased five-fold.

The BISX-listed healthcare provider said it planned to launch both initiatives at its Bahamas Medical Centre facility on Blake Road, having received the necessary approvals for one stem cell programme and another in its final stages.

Doctors Hospitals 2017 annual report did not identify the types of stem cell treatment involved, but said: It is envisioned that stem cell therapy will occur at the facility [Bahamas Medical Centre] in fiscal 2018, with one programme already receiving the necessary approvals and the second programme in its final stages of assessment and approval......

We anticipate that in fiscal 2018 we will launch one of our primary care centres at this location, supported by increased specialist services to best serve the neighbouring communities.

Joe Krukowski, Doctors Hospitals chairman, told shareholders via the annual report that the launch of primary care services will be a vital component in the continuum of care we provide.

We will seek to provide our customers with multiple entry points for this level of care, he added.

Doctors Hospitals stem cell initiatives, in particular, represent a potential boost to the Bahamas national effort to make greater inroads into the medical tourism market while also exploiting legislation passed by the former Christie administration.

The healthcare providers move into primary care will effectively create a fully-integrated model, combining with its core business in secondary and tertiary care provision to potentially make Doctors Hospital almost a one-stop shop for all medical needs.

The expansion comes after Doctors Hospital saw total comprehensive income for the year to end-January 2017 grow by 409 per cent or more than five-fold, from $702,790 to $3.578 million year-over-year.

The growth was driven entirely by the companys main Collins Avenue facility, where profits more than doubled, increasing by 157.4 per cent to $4.778 million compared to $1.856 million the year before. The Bahamas Medical Centres net loss increased slightly compared to the prior year, rising from $1.153 million to $1.2 million.

An improved top-line drove Doctors Hospitals improved profitability, with patient services revenue up $3.65 million or 7.4 per cent at $52.713 million.

Patient days increased by 6 per cent from the previous year, the annual report said of the main Collins Avenue hospital. Increases in the Intensive and Intermediary Care Units accounted for 37per centof the change, and the balance in medical surgical and maternity.

Total admissions to the facility were 4,114 in fiscal 2017 compared to 4,063 in fiscal 2016. The continued flat admission numbers and increased patient days are indicative of the trend toward a rising severity of illness. The average daily census increased to 33 patients per day from 31.2 in the previous year.

Doctors Hospitals total expenses grew by $818,452 or 1.7 per cent year-over-year, with salaries and benefits rising by $1.176 million or 5.6 per cent to $23.209 million. Due to the top-line growth, these fell as a percentage of patient net revenue from 44.3 per cent to 43.5 per cent.

At Bahamas Medical Centre, revenues rose by $28,015 or 1.9 per cent to $1.462 million. This slightly outpaced the increase in expenses, which jumped by 1.5 per cent or $43,479 to $2.819 million as a result of rising medical supplies costs.

Doctors Hospital is budgeting $7 million for capital spending projects in its financial year to end-January 2018, a sum more than double the prior years $3.1 million, as it bids to upgrade facilities and replace equipment.

Bad debt expense, as a percentage of patient service revenues, decreased to 2.6per centfor the year ended January 31, 2017, compared to 3.4per centthe previous year, Doctors Hospital said.This represented a decrease of $316,808, or 18.8per cent. This decrease is a result of a write-off of third-party receivables.

The number of days revenue in accounts receivable at year-end (AR Days) for fiscal 2017 stand at 51 compared with fiscal 2016 at 43 days, and net receivables as a percentage of net patient revenue increased to 14.1per centfrom 11.8per cent. These increases area result of high activity in the months of December and January, and payments not received until after year-end.

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Doctors Targets Stem Cell Therapy Launch - Bahamas Tribune

As the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology enters its final day, US biotech major

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Celgene updates on two T cell therapy collaborations - The Pharma Letter (registration)

Commentary by Dmitry M. Arbuck, MD, President and Medical Director, Indiana Polyclinic

We are at a truly revolutionary time in health and medicine. The introduction of stem cell technology represents innovation on the same level as the development of antibiotics or the invention of modern imaging (MRIs, etc.). Stem cells are already changing the way medicine is delivered, increasing lifespans and saving countless lives.

Arbuck

Scientists and researchers have been studying the benefits of stem cells for more than 30 years. They have found that these special cells provide great benefits all over the body, from muscles and joints to chronic diseases, to growing new teeth. You may have read about athletes treated with stem cells to speed healing after an injury or about burn victims who use stem cell therapy to minimize scarring.

Stem cells used to be associated with embryos, but this is no longer the case. Today, live cells for treatment are either adult stem cells or umbilical cord blood stem cells. Adult stem cells are most likely extracted from tissue, like bone marrow or fat, which can be a painful and invasive process. Additionally, as we age, so do our stem cells, which become less potent and productive over time. Like every other tissue in our bodies, they are exposed to the toxins, radiation and other pollutants in the environment. Umbilical cord blood stem cells are collected from the donated cord blood and placenta of healthy newborns. The cells are then screened for disease and genetic problems. These umbilical stem cells are vibrant, vital and healthy.

When umbilical cord stem cells are infused, they carry a whole host of immune stabilizing factors throughout the body and work to repair the immune system. This is likely why stem cells are so helpful in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, dermatitis and myasthenia gravis. Other things that may be successfully treated with this therapy include MS, lupus, graft vs. host disease and other immune conditions.

The future is today. For more, visit StemCellsIndy.com.

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Column: Stem Cell Therapy A medical revolution - Current in Carmel

An experimental therapy to repair spinal cord injury with stem cell-derived tissue is progressing smoothly, according to a leader of that trial who spoke at a conference on stem cell therapy.

The Phase 1 safety trial is proceeding with no complications, said Dr. Joseph Ciacci, a University of California San Diego neurosurgeon. The trial is being conducted at the universitys Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center. The conference was held last week at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla.

With safety looking good, the green light has been given to treat more patients, Ciacci said. However, to produce effectiveness, more cells will need to be transplanted.

Four patients have been treated with neural stem cells, injected into the spinal cord. They had experienced complete loss of motor and sensor function below the injury. They had been injured between 1 and 2 years previously.

Moreover, the cells show signs of integrating with the surrounding tissue in animal studies, Ciacci said. If the preliminary evidence holds up, Ciacci and colleagues plan to submit a paper detailing the results.

Curing paralysis from spinal cord injury was a big selling point for those who successfully advocated Proposition 71, which authorized selling $6 billion in state bonds to establish and fund the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM. The institute got $3 billion, the remaining half is going for interest over the life of the bonds.

While CIRM has been under pressure to show results, doctors are taking great care to establish safety first in the spinal cord treatment, because of potential risks in the procedure.

We are now enrolling and recruiting for the second cohort, which is for chronic cervical spinal cord injuries, Ciacci said. They are medically classified as C5-C7 ASIA A Complete.

Chronic injuries need to have taken place more than 1 year before treatment. For this study, the injury must also be under two years old. The trial is being conducted at UCSD with Ciacci serving as the principal investigator.

For more information on the Phase I Chronic SCI study, contact Ciaccis research group at (619) 471-3698, nksidhu@ucsd.edu.

In addition, the researchers have been approved to start another spinal cord injury trial with a different set of cells. These oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, derived from embryonic stem cells, can turn into several different types of neural cells.

The trial, sponsored by Asterias, treats newly injured patients, between 14 and 30 days after injury.

For more information on the Asterias trial, contact the UCSD Alpha Stem Cell Clinic at 858-534-5932 alphastemcellclinic@ucsd.edu or visit http://www.scistar-study.com and j.mp/ucsdast.

Asterias acquired the technology from Geron, which had undertaken the work with a CIRM grant. Geron later canceled the work and refunded the money to CIRM. Asterias got funding from CIRM to continue the work.

The Asterias trial will use the same technique as used with the Chronic SCI trial, a technique which can improve safety, Ciacci said. The cells will be injected in a series of progressively larger amounts that may give evidence of the dose relates to effectiveness, although safety remains the main concern.

This cell line is cryopreserved, its sent to us as a single dose the day of surgery, Ciacci said. Were going to study different doses 2 million, 10 million, 20 million cells per injection. Its going to be a direct injection, just like what weve done before.

As in previous treatments, patients will also receive immune suppression to prevent rejection of the cells. Likewise, they will be monitored for many years after treatment.

Another trial coming to UCSD will test for efficacy in ALS, Ciacci said.

Ciacci said hes looking for qualified patients for these trials, and urged those in the audience to help find them.

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Stem cell-based spinal cord therapy expanded to more patients - The San Diego Union-Tribune

C

HICAGO Doctors are reporting unprecedented success from a new cell and gene therapy for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer thats on the rise. Although its early and the study is small 35 people every patient responded and all but two were in some level of remission within two months.

In a second study of nearly two dozen patients, everyone above a certain dose responded.

Experts at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, where the results were announced Monday, say its a first for multiple myeloma and rare for any cancer treatment to have such success.

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Chemotherapy helps 10 to 30 percent of patients; immune system drugs, 35 to 40 percent at best, and some gene-targeting drugs, 70 to 80 percent, but you dont get to 100, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

These are impressive results, but time will tell if they last, he said.

Meet the biotech company trying to shake up how the FDA thinks about cancer drugs

Multiple myeloma affects plasma cells, which make antibodies to fight infection. More than 30,000 cases occur each year in the United States, and more than 115,000 worldwide. Its the second fastest growing cancer for men and the third for women, rising 2 to 3 percent per year, according to the National Cancer Institute. About 60,000 to 70,000 Americans have it now.

Nine new drugs have been approved for it since 2000 but theyre not cures; only about half of U.S. patients live five years after diagnosis.

With cell therapy, I cant say we may get a cure, but at least we bring hope of that possibility, said Dr. Frank Fan. He is chief scientific officer of Nanjing Legend Biotech, a Chinese company that tested the treatment with doctors at Xian Jiaotong University.

The treatment, called CAR-T therapy, involves filtering a patients blood to remove immune system soldiers called T cells. These are altered in a lab to contain a gene that targets cancer and then given back to the patient intravenously.

Doctors call it a living drug a one-time treatment to permanently alter cells that multiply in the body into an army to fight cancer. Its shown promise against some leukemias and lymphomas, but this is a new type being tried for multiple myeloma, in patients whose cancer worsened despite many other treatments.

In the Chinese study, 19 of 35 patients are long enough past treatment to judge whether they are in complete remission, and 14 are. The other five had at least a partial remission, with their cancer greatly diminished. Some are more than a year past treatment with no sign of disease.

Most patients had a group of side effects common with this treatment, including fever, low blood pressure, and trouble breathing. Only two cases were severe and all were treatable and temporary, doctors said.

The second study was done in the U.S. by Bluebird Bio and Celgene, using a cell treatment developed by the National Cancer Institute. It tested four different dose levels of cells in a total of 21 patients. Eighteen are long enough from treatment to judge effectiveness, and all 15 who got an adequate amount of cells had a response. Four have reached full remission so far, and some are more than a year past treatment.

The results are very remarkable, not just for how many responded but how well, said Dr. Kenneth Anderson of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

We need to be looking for how long these cells persist and keep the cancer under control, he said.

Dr. Carl June, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who received the conferences top science award for his early work on CAR-T therapy, said its very rare to see everyone respond to a treatment. His lab also had this happen all 22 children testing a new version of CAR-T for leukemia responded, his colleagues reported at the conference.

U.S. could save $825 million a year with a small change in immunotherapy dosing, study says

The first patients we treated in 2010 havent relapsed, June said.

Dr. Michael Sabel of the University of Michigan called the treatment revolutionary.

This is really the epitome of personalized medicine, extending immune therapy to more types of patients, he said.

Legend Biotech plans to continue the study in up to 100 people in China and plans a study in the U.S. early next year. The treatment is expected to cost $200,000 to $300,000, and whos going to pay for that is a big issue, Fan said.

The manufacturing process is very expensive and you cant scale up. Its individualized. You cannot make a batch as is done with a drug, he said.

Nick Leschly, Bluebirds chief executive, said the next phase of his companys study will test what seems the ideal dose in 20 more people.

Marilynn Marchione

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