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NeoStem signs research collaboration agreement for treatment of skin wounds in scleroderma

NeoStem has inked an agreement for a research collaboration aimed at investigating the potential of very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) in treating difficult to heal wounds in an animal model of scleroderma.

NeoStem Grants and Academic Liaison director Dr Denis O. Rodgerson and Dr Vincent Falanga, The Barbara A. Gilchrest Professor of Dermatology and Professor of Biochemistry at the Boston University School of Medicine will lead the project.

In the study, tight skin mouse will be employed for testing the potential wound healing capabilities of autologous VSELs in treating difficult to heal skin ulcers characteristic of this disease.

Based on the study results, the company may be eligible for an additional $1.5m Phase II grant for the indication from NIH-NIAMS.

Preliminary data from Dr Falanga’s earlier research using a preclinical mouse model of severe complex wounds suggest that human VSELs may be more effective in accelerating healing than are mesenchymal stromal cells.

The preliminary data demonstrated that after 14 days of treatment, mice treated with 2,500 human VSELs experienced a significantly greater percentage of wound re-epithelialization (covering with skin) than did those treated with either 500,000 human mesenchymal stromal cells or a control.

NeoStem chairman and CEO Dr Robin Smith noted the company is encouraged by the data from Dr Falanga’s lab suggesting VSEL effectiveness in wound healing.

"The possibility that our research collaboration could advance treatments that one day could help patients suffering from scleroderma and chronic wounds is very exciting," Dr Smith added.

Previously, The National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH-NIAMS) has provided $147,765 grant for the collaboration from the Small Business Innovative Research Program for the ‘Development of Adult Pluripotent Very Small Embryonic Like (VSEL) Stem Cells to Treat Skin Wounds in Scleroderma’.

VSEL stem cells were originally described in mice by researchers at the University of Louisville. NeoStem’s research, includes evidence of multipotency and multi-lineage differentiation, has identified cells in human blood and bone marrow that have many of the properties described for murine VSELs.