Getting your player ready...
The world’s first authorized test in people of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells has been cleared to begin by the Food and Drug Administration.
The clinical trial will test cells developed by Geron Corp. and the University of California, Irvine, in patients with new spinal-cord injuries.
The FDA had initially cleared the clinical trial in January 2009. But before any patients could be treated, the agency put the trial on hold after cysts were found in some rats injected with the cells. Geron had to do another rat study and develop better ways to check the purity of its cells.
On Friday, the company announced that the FDA had lifted the hold.
