PLANS to give human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) their first clinical test have been delayed again. The US Food and Drug Administration has placed a hold on a proposed trial in patients with spinal injury.
Geron of Menlo Park, California, intends to transplant cells called oligodendrocyte progenitors, grown from human ESCs, into the damaged spinal cords of patients whose injuries have left them paralysed. The idea is that they will secrete myelin, which forms sheaths that help protect nerve cells from damage. In rats, such transplants have helped restore mobility after a spinal injury.
Geron finally won approval to begin…
