Funding windfall rescues abandoned stem-cell trial

摘要

A landmark stem-cell trial is sputtering back to life two-and-a-half years after it was abandoned by the California company that started it. But it now faces a fresh set of challenges, including a field that is packed with competitors. The trial aims to test whether cells derived from human embryonic stem cells can help nerves to regrow in cases of spinal-cord injury. It was stopped abruptly in 2011 by Geron of Menlo Park, California (see Nature 479, 459; 2011); the firm said at the time that it wanted to focus on several Dromisins cancer treatments instead. Now, a new company - Asterias Biotherapeutics, also of Menlo Park - plans to resur- rect the trial with a US$14.3-million grant that it received on 29 May from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state's stem-cell-funding agency.