A California-based company received permission to conduct its first ever trial of stem cell therapy treatment for Parkinson's disease in Melbourne.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia cleared the International Stem Cell Corporation's (ISCO) submission to conduct its first trial treatment in twelve patients with Parkinson's disease. These patients have the illness, which range from moderate to severe case, as per 9News.com. au.
"Currently, there is no cure for PD, which is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and affects over seven million people worldwide," the statement of the company reads.
The trial will be conducted at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, probably in the first quarter of 2016. Doctors will implant around 30- 70 million neural cells into the brains of the participants.
ISCO chief executive officer Andrey Semechkin said that they are very hopeful that the upcoming trial will produce positive results. Further adding, "There is a large unmet medical need for new treatments that may halt or reverse the progression of Parkinson's disease and we believe our human neural stem cells may fill this need for the millions of people with this disease."
Early symptoms of the Parkinson 's disease include, shaking, stiffness and difficulty in movement. Late symptoms include, "thinking and behavioural problems including dementia commonly occurring in patients," according to 9News.com.au. The treatment aims to directly fix the root cause of the disease and if it is proven to be safe and effective in restoring patient's movement, it would the first of its kind.
Russell Kern, the company's chief scientific officer, explained to The San Diego Union Tribune that the cells will be implanted to the patients are called "neural precursor cells," which are "derived from the company's parthenogenetic stem cells, which are produced from unfertilized human egg cells."
Researchers are hopeful that their therapy can save many people that are suffering from Parkinson's disease.
