BlueRock unit39;s therapy was well tolerated
Transplanted dopaminemaking cells grow in brain
Bayer to enrol patients for Phase II trial in H1 2024

FRANKFURT, June 28 Reuters Bayer subsidiary BlueRock has become the first company to report initial success treating Parkinson39;s disease in humans using an experimental stem cell therapy, the drugmaker said on Wednesday.

The hunt for Parkinson39;s treatments has seen many setbacks over decades.

Bayer said that one year into a Phase I trial with 12 volunteers, BlueRock39;s therapy was shown to be welltolerated and that transplanted cells grew as intended in patients39; brains.

This encouraged it to advance testing on humans to the second of three stages, with patient enrolment seen in the first half of 2024.

A slew of research projects around the globe have recently honed in on the approach to transplant modified cells to restore an area of the brain that normally produces dopamine.

Some of this work is done by Britain39;s39; Cambridge University, South Korea39;s Bundang CHA Hospital, International Stem Cell Corp39;s Cyto Therapeutics in Australia, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University and Japan39;s Kyoto University Hospital.

For BlueRock39;s experimental therapy, researchers took induced pluripotent stem cells, which are modified to regain the ability to form any type of specialised tissue, and transformed them into dopamineproducing nerve cells.

When surgically implanted into the brain of a person…