Stemedica files patent application for diabetic retinopathy treatment

Sep 8 2009

Stemedica Cell Technologies, Inc., ("Stemedica"), a world leader in stem cell research and manufacturing, has filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") for a proprietary methodology in the treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy. The patent application was published by the USPTO on August 27th of this year. The application is supported by extensive data and results from patients treated within a Clinical Study conducted outside of the United States beginning in January of 2006.

"Our patent application describes a dynamic method for treating diabetic retinopathy and other degenerative conditions of the eye," said Nikolai Tankovich, MD, PhD, Stemedica's President and Chief Medical Officer. "The breakthrough results from this study provide new hope for the thousands of patients suffering from the debilitating disease of Diabetic Retinopathy."

Stemedica's invention relates to the use of multiple stem cells and a transplantation methodology in the treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy. Participating patients had varying degrees of Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Optic Neuropathy. Patients received neural progenitor cells by retrobulbar injection and mesenchymal stem cells administered intravenously. Patients were observed at baseline and then after treatment at days 2, 8, 14, 30, 60, 90, and 120. Annual physical and ophthalmic examinations were conducted each year thereafter for a three year period.

Noticeable patient findings included: overall visual function improvements by all eight patients within sixty (60) days of treatment; reduction in absolute scotomas; increases in the thickness of the optic nerve fiber; resorption of hemorrhages; no new micro bleeding edema of the nerve fiber layer; and, a decrease in macular edema. Improvement in the function of different layers of the retina and optic nerve were experienced as well as a reduction in the number of scotomas in the field of vision. None of the patients developed tumors, had impaired vision or experienced adverse health effects connected with the cell injections, and seven of the eight participating patients have maintained the overall vision improvements they gained from treatment three years later.

Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the eye's retina that occurs with long-term diabetes. It is a leading cause of adult blindness in the United States.