StemCells, Inc. Announces World's First Neural Stem Cell Transplant in Spinal Cord Injury Patient

StemCells, Inc. (Nasdaq: STEM) announced today that the first patient in the Company's breakthrough Phase I/II clinical trial in chronic spinal cord injury was successfully transplanted with the Company's proprietary HuCNS-SC® adult neural stem cells. The stem cells were administered yesterday at Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, a world leading medical center for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. The transplant surgery was performed by a team of surgeons led by Dr. Raphael Guzman, a visiting staff neurosurgeon also on faculty at Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, and Dr. K. Min, an orthopedic surgeon at Balgrist University Hospital.

"I am pleased to be a part of this innovative clinical trial designed to help us assess the safety and potential efficacy of HuCNS-SC stem cells for spinal cord injury," explains Dr. Armin Curt, Principal Investigator. "The preclinical data underlying this trial provided compelling rationale to conduct a study of this nature in spinal cord-injured patients." StemCells, Inc. has published numerous preclinical studies demonstrating the therapeutic potential of the Company's human neural stem cells for the treatment of acute and chronic spinal cord injury. These studies were conducted in close collaboration with Drs. Aileen Anderson and Brian Cummings of the University of California, Irvine.