ImStem Biotech Announces Multiple Sclerosis Patient Dosed

ImStem Biotechnology, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing human embryonic stem cell (ESC)-derived mesenchymal stem cells, has dosed the first U.S. multiple sclerosis (MS) patient with lead investigational drug candidate IMS001 at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, GA, according to AgeX Therapeutics Inc.

ImStem derived IMS001 from AgeX’s ESI-053 pluripotent stem cell line under a non-exclusive licencing from AgeX. If ImStem IMS001 is successfully developed and approved for marketing by the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities, AgeX will be entitled to royalties on sales, as well as a share of certain other revenues that ImStem may receive in connection with the development or commercialization of IMS001 in multiple sclerosis.

IMS001 is an experimental, allogeneic cell product developed from AgeX pluripotent stem cells that have been stimulated to differentiate into mesenchymal stem cells. It will be delivered intravenously to MS patients. IMS001 is thought to be the first MSC product produced from an ESC line to be approved by the FDA for human testing. ImStem intends to continue enrolling patients in a dose-escalating, open-label study to assess the safety, tolerability, and exploratory efficacy of a single intravenous dose of IMS001 in patients with relapsing-remitting, secondary, or primary progressive MS who have failed to respond to other treatments.

After decades of groundbreaking work in the biopharma business using human embryonic stem cells, it’s exciting to see cellular medicines created from them now being tested in clinical trials. AgeX Therapies Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing and commercialising novel therapeutics to cure human diseases and combat the consequences of ageing. AgeX’s manufacturing and immunotolerance technologies, PureStem® and UniverCyteTM, are designed to operate together to produce highly specified, universal, allogeneic, off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell-derived young cells of any type for use in a number of diseases with a high unmet medical need.