ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Stem cell company, Neuralstem, Inc. , announced today that it has entered into a Clinical Trial Research Agreement aimed at treating patients suffering from Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, a form of spinal cord paralysis, with the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania through its Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care. The Institution’s Principal Investigator is Dr. Albert Cheung, Department of Anesthesiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
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“We are extremely pleased to be partnering with the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, and Dr. Cheung’s team on this important milestone,” said Neuralstem President & CEO Richard Garr. “They bring world class experience and talent across the many disciplines that are required for moving into the clinic for our first human trial.”
“We at Penn are deeply committed to finding a way to help these patients, and we are excited to be working with Neuralstem’s cutting-edge technology,” commented Dr. Cheung. “I am proud to lead this very experienced team that is already at work tackling the important and exciting challenges we face in creating a safe and effective protocol for the first human trials.”
Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia (ISP) is a painful form of extreme spasticity and rigidity that causes permanent and untreatable loss of motor function and paralysis. ISP can result from surgery to repair aortic aneurysms, an operation that is performed on thousands of patients each year around the world.
About Neuralstem
Neuralstem’s patent-protected technology enables, for the first time, the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia. The Company expects that its first Investigational New Drug (IND) application will be for the treatment of Ischemic Paraplegia, a form of paraplegia that sometimes results from the surgery to repair aortic aneurysms and for which there is no effective treatment.
Major Central Nervous System diseases targeted by the Company with research programs currently underway include: Ischemic Paraplegia, Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease. The company’s cells recently extended the life of rats with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in a paper published in the journal TRANSPLANTATION, and were deemed viable for continued work in neurodegenerative spinal conditions. Neuralstem cells also reversed paralysis in rats with Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, a form of paralysis that can result from the surgery to repair aortic aneurysms, as reported in NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.neuroscience-ibro.com/). The company has also developed immortalized human neural stem cells for in-vitro use in drug development for the academic and pharmaceutical markets. For further information, please visit http://www.neuralstem.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information
This press release may contain forward-looking information about Neuralstem, Inc., which are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements can be identified by the use of forward- looking terminology such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “project,” “plan,” “seek,” “intend,” or “anticipate” or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, and include discussions of strategy, and statements about industry trends and Neuralstem’s future performance, operations and products. This and other “Risk Factors” contained in Neuralstem’s public filings with the SEC should be read in connection with this release. For further information on Neuralstem, please review the company’s filings with the SEC including periodic reports, including the quarterly report on Form 10- Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007.
CONTACT: Richard Garr, President of Neuralstem, Inc., +1-301-366-4960; or
Media, Deanne Eagle, +1-917-837-5866, of Planet Communications; or Investor
Relations, Ira Weingarten, +1-805-897-1880, or Steve Chizzik,
+1-908-688-9111, both of Equity Communications
Web site: http://www.neuralstem.com/
http://www.neuroscience-ibro.com/
