According to Pluristem, the development of this new advanced engineered graft that replenishes the bone marrow of blood cancer patients, has the potential to save the lives of millions of people.
Although the field of stem cell technology holds great promise, the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into patients with hematological malignancies remains the only presently FDA-approved clinical procedure. Critical shortfall in the supply of matched tissue for transplantation, creates an urgent need for alternative sources of HSCs.
Therefore, Pluristem has launched an extensive experimental program in a relevant animal model, to prove the superiority of its technology over standard-of-care protocols.
Pluristem has patented a technology for efficient expansion of HSCs for bone marrow transplantation from umbilical cord blood (UCB). The uniqueness of this expansion technology is its ability to mimic the physiological bone marrow environment by using two independent cell types, mesenchymal and HSCs, that are co-cultured on a 3-D scaffold.
"Our goal of moving from the "research" to the "development" phase is starting to be fulfilled by this breakthrough and previously announced animal model studies which we plan to bring to the clinic as expeditiously as practicable", stated Zami Aberman, CEO at Pluristem.
Israeli biotech Pluristem Life Systems has formulated a cell graft, currently in preclinical development, to provide an alternative to the standard procedure of bone marrow transplantation.