Neuralstem Inc has entered into a collaboration with the China Medical University & Hospital of Taiwan, to advance development of Neuralstem's human spinal cord neural stem cell therapies. The collaboration will focus on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) with Dr Shinn-Zong Lin, as principle investigator.
"We are pleased to have established this collaboration in Taiwan," said Richard Garr, Neuralstem president & CEO. "The goal is to qualify our existing cGMP spinal cord cells into a human trial programme to treat ALS in Taiwan. We would expect the Taiwan trial to follow the US trial by about six to nine months. As we prepare to submit an IND to treat ALS with our stem cells in the US this fall, we continue to look for strategic relationships in both Europe and Asia that will allow us to move the cells into humans. Taiwan is a substantial and important market in Asia, and China Medical University is the National leader in innovative neurological research and treatments. We are very pleased to be adding them as another partner as we build out our worldwide network of neurosurgical centers capable of conducting clinical trials, and ultimately delivering our cell therapies."
Neuralstem's patented 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.