Cell therapy weekly: First patient dosed in Phase III osteoarthritis trial
This week in cell therapy: Quick International Courier is acquired and IND submitted for multiple sclerosis therapy
The news highlights:
First patient dosed in Phase III osteoarthritis trial
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics submits IND for MS cell therapy
Kuehne + Nagel to acquire Quick International Courier
First patient dosed in Phase III osteoarthritis trial
The first patient has been dosed in Kolon TissueGene, Inc.’s (MD, USA) Phase III trial assessing Invossaâ„¢ for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Invossa, a gene-edited allogeneic cell therapy, previously demonstrated a 2 year improvement of pain and function and will now be administered to 1020 patients across 60 clinical sites in the US.
“This is an exciting step for Kolon TissueGene as we progress towards providing key clinical benefits for patients of this debilitating disease with this novel cell and gene therapy for knee osteoarthritis,” stated Woosok Lee, President and CEO of Kolon TissueGene.
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics submits IND for MS cell therapy
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics (NY, USA) has announced submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) to FDA for a Phase II trial of NurOwn® for progressive multiple sclerosis. NurOwn is a technology platform that produces mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which secrete neurotrophic factors.
“We plan to quickly initiate the Phase 2 clinical study of NurOwn® in progressive MS to address the significant unmet need for MS patients,” said Ralph Kern, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer of BrainStorm. “We believe the demonstrated safety and efficacy experience of NurOwn® in our ALS clinical program and the development of neurotrophic factors and other efficacy biomarkers will allow us to confidently expand our cellular therapy pipeline.”
Kuehne + Nagel to acquire Quick International Courier
Kuehne + Nagel (Switzerland) has agreed to acquire Quick International Courier (Quick; NY, USA). Quick, consisting of Sterling Aviation, QuickSTAT, Quick Healthcare and Quick Logistics, is a leader in transport of time-sensitive materials including personalized medicine, cell gene and immunotherapy, cord blood, clinical research specimens, investigational drugs and clinical trial supplies. Unitrans International Logistics is not part of this transaction.
For more weekly cell therapy news, read previous editions of the cell therapy weekly.