July 18, 2011
JERUSALEM (Dow Jones)--Israel's Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (BCLI) said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a hospital in the U.S. state to cooperate in further clinical trials for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment.
Brainstorm is currently testing its ALS treatment using adult stem cells taken from patients' own bodies at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center.
The treatment has also been granted orphan drug status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Orphan drug status is granted to encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
Brainstorm said that, according to the preliminary agreement, the company will carry out trials at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and work with members of the medical school's teaching and research faculty.
ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive motor-neuron disease with onset in mid-life that results in paralysis and death, often three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a non-profit health agency that provides patient care and research funding for ALS and other neuromuscular diseases.
In the U.S. alone, 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS each year, and an estimated 30,000 Americans have ALS, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
-By Sara Toth Stub, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; saratoth@gmail.com
JERUSALEM (Dow Jones)--Israel's Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (BCLI) said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a hospital in the U.S. state to cooperate in further clinical trials for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment.
Brainstorm is currently testing its ALS treatment using adult stem cells taken from patients' own bodies at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center.
The treatment has also been granted orphan drug status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Orphan drug status is granted to encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
Brainstorm said that, according to the preliminary agreement, the company will carry out trials at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and work with members of the medical school's teaching and research faculty.
ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive motor-neuron disease with onset in mid-life that results in paralysis and death, often three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a non-profit health agency that provides patient care and research funding for ALS and other neuromuscular diseases.
In the U.S. alone, 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS each year, and an estimated 30,000 Americans have ALS, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
-By Sara Toth Stub, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; saratoth@gmail.com