A larger trial with 41 participants has been provisionally approved, pending further results.
One month after treatment, all nine participants had improved by one point on a 10 point scale of stroke disability. A year later, five people had improved by three points.
The company reported interim results from the nine patients this week at the European Stroke Conference in London.
Stifling inflammation
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He says that the nine recipients were selected because they had long ceased to improve on their own, making it easier to link any improvements to the treatment.
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For the first time since their stroke, some are able to lift limbs, grip objects and walk unaided a year after treatment. “We’re comfortable with the notion we’re seeing something that’s real, with some hints of improvement and no issues of long-term safety,” says John Sinden of ReNeuron, the UK-based company that developed the treatment.
Sinden thinks that the fetal neural stem cells injected into the volunteers’ brains may stifle inflammation and catalyse the formation of new blood supplies to stroke-damaged tissue.
It’s too soon to rejoice, but the first people to receive stem cell therapy after a stroke have shown unexpected but modest improvements in their condition.
