March 30, 2016
Daniela Semedo, PhD
Living Cell
Technologies announced that it has received approval from
the Auckland Hospital Research Review Committee to begin a Phase 2b
clinical trial evaluating its lead product, NTCELL, as a potential
treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Patient
recruitment for the trial is now underway, the company said in a press release.
NTCELL
is an alginate-coated capsule enclosing clusters of neonatal
porcine choroid plexus cells. Following transplantation, NTCELL works
by producing factors to promote new central nervous system growth and
repair disease-induced nerve degeneration, according to the release.
The
Phase 2b trial aims to confirm the most effective dose of the therapy and
further evaluate its potential as a disease-modifying treatment. It follows a
Phase 1/2a study in Parkinson’s patients, also in New Zealand, which met
its primary endpoint of safety and showed clinical efficacy improvements.
The results were presented at the 2015 World Congress of Movement Disorders and
Parkinson’s Disease in California. The larger Phase 2b trial will also
seek to define any placebo component of response and identify the initial
Parkinson’s disease patient subgroup target.
If the
trial is successful, Living Cell Technologies will request consent to
begin treating paying patients in New Zealand, with an intent to launch
NTCELL as the first disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s disease in
2017.
NTCELL
has the potential to treat other central nervous system diseases, including
Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s, and motor neuron diseases like amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis, the company reported.
http://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2016/03/30/lct-starts-phase-iib-clinical-trial-of-ntcell-for-parkinsons-disease/
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