A couple of weeks ago Geron announced that the FDA would allow a phase 1 trial using Embryonic Stem Cells on humans for the treatment of spinal cord injury.  The study will begin in the summer of 2009, and involve 8-10 people that are unfortunate enough to receive complete thoracic spinal cord injuries between the T2-T10 region.  Geron has plans to continue with cervical and incomplete injuries if the results during this first phase show improvement in locomotion, skin sensation, or bowel and bladder function.

High scrutiny will be placed on this historic first-time procedure in the U.S.  Stem cell therapies on humans with sci have been ongoing in other parts of the world such as China, but results have been poorly documented

Here’s a video with Dr. Tom Okarma, and a short blurb of the announcement.

This is a great first step, but as a quadriplegic for 14 years, I know it will be a slow process.  Possibly they’ll have a cure within ten years for me. That’s my timeline now for chronic sci survivors.

President Obama has guaranteed he’ll use the Executive Order overturning President Bush’s stem cell policy, so that should help research in the United States.

Will a Cure come for spinal cord injury?

Neuroscientist and spinal cord researcher Dr. Wise Young  answered this question at the CareCure forum, and reposted his thoughts on his blog dedicated for postings from the forum.

Dr. Young believes there will come a day when a combination of cures will be developed.

“there are many reasons to be optimistic that there will be not just one but many “cures” for spinal cord injury.  I defined a cure as a treatment that would make it so that an observer who did not know you wouldn’t be able to tell that you have spinal cord injury.  I believe that there will be a cure because much data indicate that the spinal cord can regenerate and many therapies restore function in animal studies.  One or more of these will be shown to be successful in people in the coming years, hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Having an administration that is pro-embryonic stem cell research, should also help stimulate new discoveries.

“For nearly 8 years, the Bush Administration has suppressed not only embryonic stem cell (ESC) research but all stem cell research.  Last year, for example, NIH funded only $600 million of stem cell research, i.e. $300 million for animal stem cells, $260 million for human adult stem cells, and $40 million for human ESC.  The total NIH budget was about $30 billion in 2007.  So, even though stem cells are widely acknowledged by scientists to be the most important biomedical advance of the decade, the NIH spent only 2% of its budget on all of stem cell research, only 1% on human stem cells, and less than 0.2% on human ESC research.  The Obama Administration will lift these restrictions and strongly encourage stem cell research.”

Will there be a cure for Spinal Cord Injury?  The solution is getting much closer. We wait for the Geron human trials to begin, which will be the first of their kind for the U.S., and anticipate more to follow.

I was told when I was injured in 1994, that a cure was five years away.  Those optomists were a little off.  Timelines are tough.  I do believe though, I’ll see a cure for sci within ten years.  We’ll see