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Research Update- AML Trial
ExCellThera is a clinical stage biotech company that is focused on developing a robust and cost effective technology to expand blood stem cells from cord blood for therapeutic use. ExCellThera is a spin-off company from the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer – Commercialization of Research (IRICoR) in Montréal, and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) in Toronto.
In December 2015, ExCellThera announced Health Canada’s approval for the initiation of a Phase I/2 clinical trial using its lead product, ECT-100. ECT-100 contains cord blood progenitor cells that have undergone a 100-fold expansion.
The trial will enroll up to 25 patients who require a stem cell transplant for the treatment of AML, and other malignant blood disorders, but who lack a suitable stem cell donor. It is anticipated that ECT-100 will provide a robust long-term reconstitution of the blood forming system in these patients. This trial will take place at multiple transplant centres across Canada with the lead clinical site located at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montréal.
At the recent Annual Conference of the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG) in Vancouver, it was announced that the first patient in this trial had been treated. Success in this trial would support the use of cord blood units, which may be too small by today’s standards, in adult patients.
