November 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Medipost said on Feb. 5 it has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin early-stage clinical studies of its stem cell-based therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.

The Seoul-based company plans to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its drug candidate Neurostem in phase 1 and 2a clinical trials with up to 18 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. 

Neurostem is a mesenchymal stem cell drug derived from umbilical cord blood.

Preclinical studies have shown that Neurostem is effective in variety of causative agents and pathological features of dementia such as reduction of amyloid beta protein, inhibition of tau protein hyperphosphorylation and aggregation.

“We expect positive results as we already have experience running two trials of stem cell therapy in the US, and clinical programs of Neurostem have been successful in Korea,” said a MediPost official.

The firm’s other stem cell drug pipeline includes osteoarthritis therapy Cartistem and preventative treatment of bronchopulmonary dysplasia Pneumostem.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)