ChinaSCINet Update

[Wise Young]

I think the goal of Stemcyte is to make profit by banking UCB. That's OK for me, but I guess it's not their specific goal to cure SCI. Correct me if I am wrong.
Wise apparently is the global medical director of Stemcyte https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo67AG5dcPI
So I suppose that if Wise had the time to help setting up a clinical trial for SCI using UCB from a different source (let say a Canadian public UCB bank), Stemcyte people would feel bad.
I wonder if there is a poket for Stemcyte in the canadian UCB bank market...

Paolo,

Stemcyte is donating all the cord blood and cell processing costs for our trials ($30,000/unit). They are working hard to raise money for our trials. The phase III trial in the U.S. will probably cost us $150,000/subject. Why do you say that "it's not their specific goal to cure SCI"? You asked me to correct you if you are wrong. Well, you are wrong. Stemcyte does have a specific goal of curing spinal cord injury with umbilical cord blood.

Yes, I am the global medical director of Stemcyte. I do not receive any personal payment, stocks, or other financial compensation for this service. They help us in our clinical trials and I help them with their clinical trials. Our global phase III trials will likely cost over US$10 million. I don't see anybody else stepping up to pay for these trials. Do you? The fact that Stemcyte seeks to profit from this investment is no secret and nothing to be ashamed of. This is what companies do.

You keep asking about Canada. Who will pay for the trials in Canada? I don't see anybody stepping up and offering to pay for the trials in Canada. If umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells are approved by the USFDA, it should be approved in Canada relatively quickly. Why do you assume that there is a public cord blood bank in Canada? Incidentally, Canada only just recently started their first National Public Cord Blood Bank in September 2013 http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/public...tawa-1.1873112

Wise.

[cripwalk]

Paolo,

Stemcyte is donating all the cord blood and cell processing costs for our trials ($30,000/unit). They are working hard to raise money for our trials. The phase III trial in the U.S. will probably cost us $150,000/subject. Why do you say that "it's not their specific goal to cure SCI"? You asked me to correct you if you are wrong. Well, you are wrong. Stemcyte does have a specific goal of curing spinal cord injury with umbilical cord blood.

Yes, I am the global medical director of Stemcyte. I do not receive any personal payment, stocks, or other financial compensation for this service. They help us in our clinical trials and I help them with their clinical trials. Our global phase III trials will likely cost over US$10 million. I don't see anybody else stepping up to pay for these trials. Do you? The fact that Stemcyte seeks to profit from this investment is no secret and nothing to be ashamed of. This is what companies do.

You keep asking about Canada. Who will pay for the trials in Canada? I don't see anybody stepping up and offering to pay for the trials in Canada. If umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells are approved by the USFDA, it should be approved in Canada relatively quickly. Why do you assume that there is a public cord blood bank in Canada? Incidentally, Canada only just recently started their first National Public Cord Blood Bank in September 2013 http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/public...tawa-1.1873112

Wise.

Great response and bang on. Thanks Dr. Young.

[paolocipolla]

Paolo,

Stemcyte is donating all the cord blood and cell processing costs for our trials ($30,000/unit). They are working hard to raise money for our trials. The phase III trial in the U.S. will probably cost us $150,000/subject. Why do you say that "it's not their specific goal to cure SCI"? You asked me to correct you if you are wrong. Well, you are wrong. Stemcyte does have a specific goal of curing spinal cord injury with umbilical cord blood.

Yes, I am the global medical director of Stemcyte. I do not receive any personal payment, stocks, or other financial compensation for this service. They help us in our clinical trials and I help them with their clinical trials. Our global phase III trials will likely cost over US$10 million. I don't see anybody else stepping up to pay for these trials. Do you? The fact that Stemcyte seeks to profit from this investment is no secret and nothing to be ashamed of. This is what companies do.

You keep asking about Canada. Who will pay for the trials in Canada? I don't see anybody stepping up and offering to pay for the trials in Canada. If umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells are approved by the USFDA, it should be approved in Canada relatively quickly. Why do you assume that there is a public cord blood bank in Canada? Incidentally, Canada only just recently started their first National Public Cord Blood Bank in September 2013 http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/public...tawa-1.1873112

Wise.

Thanks for clarifying all these points.

My understanding is that Stemcyte has many goals i.e. to develop cures for many deseases including SCI, but not just SCI, which is more than ok for me.
JamesMcM asked about possible trials in Canada, and that generated some questions in my mind, so I asked.
Is it correct that Stemcyte has exclusive commercialization rights to the therapy?

Paolo

[c473s]

This is ok for me, it's just that people need to know how things work.

Paolo

I just want them to work. I truly hope some make money doing it so others will try with other injuries and diseases.

[JamesMcM]

Wise, is this your most exciting year for your research? You must be very anxious to prove your results to the world.

[Wise Young]

The most exciting year will come when our phase III trials confirm the results. Wise.

[#LHB#]

"The most exciting year will come when our phase III trials confirm the results. Wise."

Confidence I like that. Wise have you seen any correlation between spasticity and recovery? Good or bad.

[Eric.S]

why would anyone complain about profits in science when profits fuel science in a very big way. Yea its nice to help but watch how fast that help comes rolling in when theres something to be gained from it. fraud is bad, mis representing results is bad, but profits in and of itself isn't bad.

[Wise Young]

have you seen any correlation between spasticity and recovery? Good or bad.

Generally, spasticity goes down with exercise.

[Wise Young]

Thanks for clarifying all these points.

My understanding is that Stemcyte has many goals i.e. to develop cures for many deseases including SCI, but not just SCI, which is more than ok for me.
JamesMcM asked about possible trials in Canada, and that generated some questions in my mind, so I asked.
Is it correct that Stemcyte has exclusive commercialization rights to the therapy?

Paolo

Paolo,

I don't know why you keep asserting that Stemcyte is trying to cure many diseases including SCI. Stemcyte is a small company and it has invested significantly into clinical trials of umbilical cord blood mononuclear cell therapies for spinal cord injury. Stemcyte has invested much more into spinal cord injury than any other condition.

Stemcyte has exclusive commercialization rights to what the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers develops in its research on umbilical cord blood cells described in the research agreement. Several patents have been submitted, relating to production of mononuclear cells from plasma-depleted umbilical cord blood cells, lithium treatment of cord blood cells, and other aspects of umbilical cord blood cells.

Wise.

[paolocipolla]

Paolo,

I don't know why you keep asserting that Stemcyte is trying to cure many diseases including SCI. Stemcyte is a small company and it has invested significantly into clinical trials of umbilical cord blood mononuclear cell therapies for spinal cord injury. Stemcyte has invested much more into spinal cord injury than any other condition.

Stemcyte has exclusive commercialization rights to what the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers develops in its research on umbilical cord blood cells described in the research agreement. Several patents have been submitted, relating to production of mononuclear cells from plasma-depleted umbilical cord blood cells, lithium treatment of cord blood cells, and other aspects of umbilical cord blood cells.

Wise.

Wise,

I think that there is a little misunderstanding here, let me try to clarify:
I have watched the video of the talk you gave at the 2013 Wold Cord Blod Congress (BTW I have found your talk absolutely wonderfull)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaD5oVoBt7c

During your talk you mention all the deseases that Stemcyte is involved with other than SCI:
-Talassemia
- Stroke
- AIDS
- Macular degeneration
- ALS
- Heart failure

As I understand it to expand the indications it is good from many points of view.
I am happy that you say that "Stemcyte has invested much more into spinal cord injury than any other condition" while I if I were to invest in Stemcyte I would for sure prefer to see that Stemcyte is working on multiple indications, so I guess what is happening is just the best possible compromise.

Paolo

[khmorgan]

Perhaps you are confusing what StemCyte does with what it allows other people to do. For example, see http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-78130992.html to read how StemCyte supports stroke research by licensing the use of its intellectual property (IP) to Professor John Lin. This is what Dr. Young said at 14:24 in the video. Essentially, StemCyte is helping others to do research on ways to use its product.

Somehow, I think you knew this already.

[paolocipolla]

Thanks for the link, I didn't know about it. Things are even more clear now.

Paolo

[kimmyj33]

Dr. Wise, How can someone participate in phase III trials? Can a U.S. Citizen take part abroad? Is there a control group? Does it usually involve untethering? I apologize if this is not an appropriate place to ask, please bump me to where I should be. Thanks in advance!

[Wise Young]

[IMG]/vb5/core/images/default/default_avatar_thumb.png[/IMG]

kimmyj33 commented on Wise Young's reply

Today, 02:01 AM

Dr. Wise, How can someone participate in phase III trials? Can a U.S. Citizen take part abroad? Is there a control group? Does it usually involve untethering? I apologize if this is not an appropriate place to ask, please bump me to where I should be. Thanks in advance!

We will be doing phase III clinical trials in the China, India, Norway, and the U.S. We are putting together the packages and application to apply to the U.S. FDA for the trial. As soon as we have approval of the trials, we will announce on http://clinicaltrials.gov and also on this site.

Wise.