StemCells Inc. has announced that the first three patients have been enrolled in the world's first clinical trial of a human neural stem cell-based therapy for chronic spinal cord injury and that the trial is being opened to patients living in the U.S. and Canada.

Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings (pictured) of UCI's Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center collaborated with StemCells Inc. to develop the treatment, in which purified human neural stem cells introduced into the spinal column grow into neural tissue cells that migrate to spinal cord injury sites. The Phase I/II trial, based at Balgrist University Hospital in Zurich, is testing both safety and preliminary efficacy in patients who are three to 12 months post-injury. Overall, 12 patients will be enrolled in the trial.

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