NeoStem Announces $1.2M NIH Grant Award for First Clinical Study of VSEL Technology in Humans

NeoStem

today announced that it has been awarded a two year grant totaling $1,221,854 for "Repair of Bone Defects with Human Autologous Pluripotent Very Small Embryonic-Like Stem Cells (VSEL)", grant number 2R44DE022493-02A1, from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This peer reviewed grant is to support a Phase 2 investigation and first approved NIH clinical study of VSELsTM in humans. The study will be headed by Denis O. Rodgerson, Ph.D., Director of Grants and Academic Liaison for NeoStem, in collaboration with co-investigators Drs. Russell Taichman and Laurie McCauley of the University of Michigan. Enrollment for this study is expected to begin in 2013. This award will fund the evaluation of VSELTM stem cells as a potential treatment for periodontitis. The product candidate, an autologous therapy derived from a patient's own stem cells, is to be developed for use in the regeneration of bone tissue damaged by this disease. The award includes $706,682 for the first year and $515,172 for the second year of the project, and will