ReNeuron encouraged by progress in stroke and RP treatments – Proactive Investors Australia

What the company does

Human retinal progenitor cells (hRPC)

Human retinal progenitor cells differentiate into components of the retina.

Reneuron has developed the ability to scale up the manufacturing of hRPCs using a patented low-oxygen cell expansion technology.

The hRPC cell therapy candidate is being evaluated in an ongoing phase I/IIa clinical trial in the US in subjects with a blindness-causing inherited retinal disease, retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

CTX Cells

CTX cell therapy candidate is a treatment for patients left disabled by the effects of a stroke.

Reneurons product is a standardised, clinical and commercial-grade cell therapy product capable of treating all eligible patients presenting with the diseases targeted, without the need for additional immunosuppressive drug treatments.

Data from the Phase II PISCES trial indicated CTX therapy was safe and well-tolerated and produced clinically meaningful and sustained improvement in the level of disability and dependence as well as motor function.

Exosome platform

Exosomes are nanoparticles, released by cells, and contain a number of active proteins and micro RNAs, which are short non-coding RNAs capable of regulating gene expression, that arebelieved to play a key role in cell-to-cell communication.

ExoPr0, Reneurons first CTX-derived exosome therapeutic candidate, has demonstrated potential as both a novel therapeutic candidate as well as a drug delivery vehicle

hRPC

's ()human retinal progenitor cells (hRPC) have scored some early success.

A Phase I/II assessment of a very small group of sufferers of a blindness-causing disease called retinitis pigmentosa saw a significant improvement in vision after treatment.

Six months after treatment there was a mean improvement of 18.5per treated eye, with a mean improvement of 12 letters per treated eye after nine months, whereasinexorable disease progression is the norm for this disease.

With a total of 22 patients now treated and the study still ongoing, ReNeuron said the efficacy in subsequent patients was seen but at a lower rate and magnitude, with improvement in visual acuity ranging from +5 to +11 letters in the treated eye threemonths after treatment.

In February, clinicaldata from the PISCES II clinical trial were published in peer-reviewedJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

CTX

A peer journal review published in May indicated a CTX human neural stem cell line can rescue deficits associated with an accepted animal model of Huntington's disease, a progressive genetic brain disorder.

ReNeuron has previously presented data demonstrating that its CTX stem cell line, currently undergoing clinical evaluation for the treatment of stroke disability, can cause functional and behavioural recovery in animal models of ischemic (restriction of blood supply) injury.

The new data showed that implantation of CTX cells into a model of Huntington's disease can reduce inflammation, glial scar formation and induce host neurogenesis (the generation of new brain cells) leading to a recovery in behavioural deficits.

Coronavirus

In April, Reneuron said it haddeveloped a line of the human exosomes that can deliver a medically relevant payload: Viral vaccines thatmight help in the fight against coronavirus.

The stem cell specialist added that the disruption from lockdowns would inevitably lead to delays in the recruitment of patients for trials of its treatments for stroke disability and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

It said it will update on how this will affect the release of top-line data from the two studies once it knows the full impact of the restrictions.

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ReNeuron encouraged by progress in stroke and RP treatments - Proactive Investors Australia