Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc. has reported interim results of its phase I/IIa clinical trial for human adipose-derived mesenchymal precursor cell (haMPC) therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA), which tests the safety and efficacy of intra-articular injections of autologous (patient's own) haMPCs in order to reduce inflammation and repair damaged joint cartilage. On schedule for completion in Q4 2013, the interim analysis of the trial has preliminarily demonstrated a significant improvement (P<0.05) from the baseline in clinical scores for SF-36, NRS-11, and WOMAC osteoarthritis indices, and no serious adverse events have been reported.

"We are very pleased with the results of the trial thus far and we look forward to the full data readout before the end of the year," said Wei (William) Cao, PhD, BM, president at Cellular Biomedicine Group. "Knee osteoarthritis severely impacts one's quality of life, and surgical treatment is very costly and invasive. This trial's preliminary results have encouraged us to continue with the study to further test the efficacy of this hopeful therapy to reduce pain, repair knee cartilage and improve quality of life of the patients in the next phase II trial."

Cellular Biomedicine Group's phase I/IIa clinical trial studies the safety and efficacy of CBMG's proprietary adipose-derived progenitor cell (haMPC) - based therapy for knee osteoarthritis. According to the interim analysis of phase I/IIa for KOA, 24 patients were screened, and 18 of them were eligible for the inclusion criteria and enrolled in the trial with their informed consent. To date, half of the subjects have completed a total of 2 doses of intra-articular injections and the scheduled 6 follow-up observations, and no serious adverse events (SAEs) have been reported.

The trial is conducted by Shanghai's Renji Hospital, a tertiary hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

"Our adipose-derived MPC therapy for KOA utilizes our proprietary medical device, the A-Stromal Kit," commented Li (Helen) Zhang, BM, vice president of Technology and Manufacturing at CBMG. "With this patented kit, approved as a medical device by China's SFDA, we use the patient's own haMPC, which negates the need for immunosuppression or donor matching. In addition, our proprietary technology allows us to produce a high yield of adipose-derived vascular stromal cells (haVSC) from only 30-50mL of adipose tissue, thus minimizing pain and recovery time following the lipoaspiration procedure. This is very significant for China, where patients typically do not have a lot of body fat. The haVSCs are further differentiated and expanded to haMPCs with our proprietary cell culture technology."

Cellular Biomedicine Group's therapy for KOA is an interventional therapy that consists of 30-50mL of adipose tissue obtained via lipoaspiration from the patient, from which the patient's haMPCs are then expanded using CBMG's proprietary technology. After three weeks there is an initial injection into the knee joints and a second injection three weeks later.

Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc. develops proprietary cell therapies for the treatment of certain degenerative diseases and cancers.