A Stroke for Stem Cells; February 2007; Scientific American Magazine; by Charles Q. Choi; 2 Page(s)

The first stem cell therapy targeting a major brain disorder, chronic stroke, could begin clinical trials this year if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the request filed in December by stem cell firm ReNeuron in Guildford, England. This latest treatment suggests stem cell therapies are growing not only in number but in ambition.

Chronic stroke, in which patients suffer from permanent infirmity, is the leading cause of adult disability in the developed world. It afflicts 25 million people worldwide, and the number of new cases is rising 7 percent annually, mostly because of an aging population. "Right now there's next to nothing for treating chronic stroke, and what there is addresses the symptoms rather than the cause," says neurologist Justin Zivin of the University of California, San Diego.