The Hindu Business Line : Stempeutics set for first stem cell trials

New Beginning
Focus on developing therapies to treat people with damaged heart tissue, spinal injury, etc.
Stempeutics gives 18 months for trial results to emerge and approval for the treatment.
The 21-member research team will be scaled up to 50 members by this year-end.

Bangalore , Aug. 4

The Manipal group's newly spun-off entity, Stempeutics, is getting set to begin the country's first formal, full-scale clinical trials using stem cells.

The phase 2 trials across multiple centres are slated to begin in October this year. They will focus on developing therapies using adult human mesenchymal stem cells to treat people with damaged heart tissue, spinal injury, ischaemic limb (with lost circulation), to be followed by optic nerve injury, according to the Stempeutics COO, Dr Ramananda Nadig.

Formed in June this year, Stempeutics Research Pvt Ltd takes forward the group's two years of experience in two streams — embryonic and adult human stem cells. It will first pursue therapies in the `low-hanging fruit' of cells drawn from an adult's bone marrow, Dr Nadig told Business Line. These cells can be multiplied to treat the same person or others.

Giving 18 months for trial results to emerge and regulatory approval for the treatment, these cell therapies should be available "off the shelf" by 2008-09 across the country's tertiary hospitals, said Dr Satish Totey, Chief Scientific Officer, Stempeutics.

Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) has initially invested Rs 5 crore in creating the cell culture room, cGMP lab, quality, testing and screening facilities in a portion of its Manipal Hospital campus in Bangalore. The facility will soon be expanded with an additional infusion of Rs 15 crore. MEMG, which is funding the expansion, is "fine-tuning the investment plans" in stem cells, Dr Nadig said.

Future course

The 21-member medical research team will also be scaled up to 50 members by this year-end and doubled further by the end of 2007.