(By Balaseshan) StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) shares jumped nearly 28% after the company said its product candidate for chronic spinal cord injury continued to show a favorable safety profile.
The company said the first patient cohort completed Phase I/II spinal cord injury trial and "considerable" gains in sensory function persisted in two of the three patients twelve months after stem cell transplant. The persistence of these sensory gains at the 12-month evaluation was seen across more than one clinical measure.
One patient converted from a complete to an incomplete injury between the six- and 12-month evaluations, the developer of stem cell therapeutics said.
"While we need to be cautious when interpreting data from a small, uncontrolled trial, to our knowledge, this is the first time a patient with a complete spinal cord injury has been converted to a patient with an incomplete injury following transplantation of neural stem cells," said Armin Curt, principal investigator of the clinical trial. "We are encouraged that the cells appear to convey clinical benefit in such severely injured patients."
By completing the twelve-month assessment, the company said the first patient cohort has now completed the trial, and has entered into a separate follow-up study for long-term observation.
The company plans to follow the effects of this therapy long-term, and each of the patients will be invited to enroll into a separate four-year observational study after completing the Phase 1/2 study.
STEM is currently trading up 24.62% at $2.05 on Tuesday. The stock has been trading between $0.59 and $2.67 for the past 52 weeks.