For 10 million worldwide patients with Parkinson’s disease, news out of Japan that a large pharmaceutical corporation is seeking approval for a new stem cell-based treatment should be hugely encouraging.
Following a successful clinical trial in which seniors between 50 and 59 years of age received injections of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) and saw either a halting or reversal in symptoms, Sumitomo Pharma have applied for manufacturing and marketing authorizations in Japan and the United States.
Parkinson’s is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of dopamine producing cells that results in a loss of motor functions.
The clinical trial was led by Kyoto University, and the published results in Nature showed that 4 out of 7 patients saw improved symptoms during a two-year monitoring period, while the other 3 did not, but suffered no negative side-effects.
Induced pluripotent stem cells are cells in the body that have been reprogrammed to return to a very young state, and which can then form any cell in the body. The discovery of the genetic process was made by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, and the Kyoto U. researcher won the Nobel Prize for that work.
It allowed stem cell treatment research to completely bypass the existing ethical debate around the harvesting and use of placental or fetal stem cells. The 4 so-called Yamanaka Factors are genes which when altered cause a cell to return to a youthful state.
MORE PARKINSON’S PROGRESS:
In the clinical trial, iPS from healthy donors were programmed to form dopamine producing cells lost in Parkinson’s cases and given in the form of two shots, one on each side of the brain.
Currently available therapies “improve symptoms without slowing or halting the disease progression,” the Parkison’s Disease Foundation said.
Famous suffers of Parkinson’s disease include the actor Michael J. Fox, boxer Muhammad Ali, and singer Ozzy Osbourne, who died of the disease last month.
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