BrainStorm says preclinical studies of NurOwn shows long-term therapeutic benefits for Parkinson's disease

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Dec. 13 - BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics said Tuesday that results of a follow-up preclinical study on the long-term impact of its dopaminergic cell treatment NurOwn for Parkinson's disease showed "remarkable" therapeutic benefits.

The study was conducted by the company's scientific collaborators at Tel Aviv University, according to a company news release.

The study results demonstrated a more than 50% reduction in the animals' rotational movement seven months after implantation. The study significantly showed superior advantage of the company's cell differentiation technology over the use of undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells, officials said.

"BrainStorm's success in being able to develop human-derived dopaminergic stem cells that can survive and significantly improve the condition of Parkinson's animal models over a lengthy period of time is a major breakthrough. This exciting finding will pave the way for us to move ahead with plans to apply our therapy to human patients," Yoram Drucker, principal executive officer of BrainStorm, said in the release.

Unlike competitive approaches that aim to use bone marrow stem cells directly, the company's therapeutic strategy is based on a unique process for differentiating bone marrow stem cells into neural-like cells capable of secreting dopamine, the substance that is depleted in Parkinson's patients, Daniel Offen, BrainStorm's chief scientist, said in the release.

Animals with Parkinson's saw a great improvement in motor function after long-term treatment with adult stem cell therapy, which indicates the cells have promising long-term restorative potential, officials said.

In other studies, Brainstorm said it has used bone marrow stem cells to produce astrocyte-like cells with the capacity of producing glial-derived neurotrophic factor. Both dopamine and glial-derived neurotrophic factor producing cells hold great promise for replacement and preservation of neurons in Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, officials said.

Working with human bone marrow stem cells, BrainStorm said it also has achieved differentiation of human bone marrow stem cells into neural-like cells capable of dopamine secretion.

BrainStorm, based in New York City and Petach Tikva, Israel, is a biopharmaceutical company developing bone marrow-derived stem cell therapeutic products for the treatment of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

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