On Friday, October 8, 2010 a therapy based on embryonic stem cells was injected into the first patient enrolled in Geron’s Human Embryonic Stem Cell Trials.

This patient was treated at Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury center in Atlanta.  In addition to the Shepherd Center, Northwestern University near Chicago has been announced as another site for this first phase of the trial.   The trial will last for two years after the last of the patients is enrolled.

Dr. Hans Keirstead is optimistic  that this therapy will eventually allow paralyzed people to walk again, but if it ultimately improves any aspect of a paralyzed person’s life, it will be a success.

He said he would be “waiting with bated breath every day” of the trial, watching for any side effects, such as signs of tumor growth or pain.

Dr. Richard Fessler, a Neurosurgeon at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University commented,  “We do have to temper our excitement with reality and that is that this is the first study and it is a safety study and it is not likely that this study is going to cure paralysis. But we hope it will be a first step.”

“This clinical trial represents another step forward in Shepherd Center’s involvement in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis in people with spinal cord injury,” said Dr. David Apple, principal investigator of the trial at the Shepherd Center.

The trial’s first phase is set to enroll ten patients and test the safety of this therapy, as well as any neurological improvement.

According to this Northwestern University report, “Northwestern Medicine is the first site open for enrollment in a national clinical research trial of a human embryonic stem cell-based therapy for participants with a subacute thoracic spinal cord injury. Following the procedure, participants will receive rehabilitation treatment at The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC).”

So, Northwestern will be the lead site for the Geron Phase I clinical trials of GRNOPC1 Human embryonic stem cells therapy for spinal cord injury.  This is exciting for the community supporting the move of clinical trials using rats to humans, as discussed by Dr. Hans Keirstead in the video below.