California Agency Funds Human Trials of Stem Cell Treatment for Spinal Injuries

(NewsCore) - The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) announced Wednesday it has awarded $25 million to fund a clinical trial on a treatment for spinal cord injuries using human embryonic stem cells.

CIRM said the award will go to Geron Corp., based in Menlo Park, Calif., to begin a trial involving patients who have been paralyzed from spinal cord injuries. The patients in the trial will be given increasing doses of a type of progenitor cell that is derived from human embryonic stem cells.

Those cells appear to stimulate the growth of nerve cells after injuries. In animal experiments, paralyzed rats treated with these cells can regain their ability to walk.

This the first clinical trial funded by CIRM, which was created by a voter initiative in 2004 to invest $3 billion in stem cell research. It is, along with the National Institutes of Health, one of the largest institutions funding stem cell research.