Clinical trial of stem cell infusion as a treatment for cerebral palsy
Australia’s first clinical trial of stem cell infusion as a treatment for cerebral palsy opened in March 2016. It is a small safety trial aiming to follow 12 children with cerebral palsy for a year after single dose intravenous infusion of cord blood cells in storage from the birth of a tissue-matched sibling. Only around 1 in 4 of siblings are a tissue-match.
The trial is led by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, working with a team from Monash Health, the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the University of Queensland. The study is funded by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation and Cell Care Australia Pty Ltd (ethics approval: HREC/14/RCHM/38).
If you or your patients would like more information about this trial please contact the study through scubi.cp@mcri.edu.au.
If you would like more information about stem cell therapy generally, this website has two excellent handbooks: www.stemcellsaustralia.edu.au