Neuralstem Provides Clinical Update

Second Quarter Clinical Program Highlights NSI-566: In April, Neuralstem

received FDA approval to commence the NSI-566 Phase II trial, for ALS, following the excellent safety and tolerability demonstrated in Phase I. The Phase II dose escalation and safety trial will expand to two centers: Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, where Phase I was completed, and ALS Clinic at the University of Michigan Health System, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, subject to approval by the Institutional Review Board at each institution. In April, final data on the intraspinal delivery method employed in the NSI-566/ALS Phase I trial was presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. "Intraspinal Stem Cell Transplantation in ALS, A Phase I Trial: Cervical Microinjection Safety Outcomes," presented by Jonathan Patrick Riley, MD, of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Emory University. In May, Neuralstem's NSI-566/ALS principal investigator, Eva Feldman, MD, PhD presented updated Phase I trial data results from all 15 patients at the Romanian Neurological Society Congress in a talk entitled, "Recent Therapeutic Advances in Stem Cell Therapy." Dr. Feldman reported that six study patients have a stable, very slowly progressing or improved disease course at more than 700-to-approximately-850 days post-surgery. She stated that these patients share two common clinical characteristics: no bulbar features of ALS, a form of the disease that destroys motor neurons in the corticobulbar area of the brainstem, and they received stem cell transplantation early in the course of their disease (at an average of two years, one month after symptom-onset). Dr. Feldman is Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and Director of Research of the ALS Clinic at the University of Michigan Health System. In May, a University of California, San Diego study reported in STEM CELL RESEARCH AND THERAPY, showed that rats transplanted with NSI-566 cells, three days after a spinal cord injury at L3 (lumbar 3), showed improvement along several measures of motor function and a reduction of spasticity. The study, "Amelioration of Motor/Sensory Dysfunction and Spasticity in a Rat Model of Acute Lumbar Spinal Cord Injury by Human Neural Stem Cell Transplantation," was led by principal investigator, Martin Marsala, MD, of the UCSD School of Medicine. The study demonstrated that intraspinal grafting of NSI-566 cells during the acute phase of a spinal cord injury could represent a safe and effective treatment that ameliorates post-injury motor and sensory deficits. In June, Neuralstem's NSI-566/ALS principal investigator, Eva Feldman, MD, PhD gave the grand plenary address at the Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation Annual Congress, which included a presentation of the final Phase I results including new cervical cohort data. The results are expected to be published in the fall of 2013. Subsequent Events: In August, UC Irvine researchers published a paper in the scientific journal, CELL TRANSPLANTATION – THE REGENERATIVE MEDICINE JOURNAL, which reported that NSI-566 cells reversed cognitive defect and improved cognitive function in rats that had received radiation to the brain. "Transplantation of Human Fetal-Derived Neural Stem Cells Improves Cognitive Function Following Cranial Irradiation" used an animal model that is similar to a potential clinical intervention given to treat brain cancer patients. NSI-189: In April, the FDA approved Neuralstem to treat the third and final cohort in the ongoing Phase Ib NSI-189 trial in major depressive disorder (MDD). Phase Ib is testing the safety of escalating doses of NSI-189 for 28 daily administrations in 24 depressed patients in three cohorts, and is expected to conclude in 3Q13. In April, Neuralstem announced an initiative to investigate feasibility of a NSI-189 trial to treat cognitive and psychiatric impairment of former NFL players from traumatic brain injury. These injuries can result in long-term and serious loss of cognitive function, depression, a shorter life span and, as has been reported in some high-profile NFL cases, death by suicide. Corporate News: In April, Neuralstem received notice of allowance for patent application 12/404,841, which covers methods of treatment of ALS with expanded spinal cord stem cells, including NSI-566. In May, Richard Garr presented at the Annual World Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Congress in London.