MD Anderson Cancer Center and National Institutes of Health to Fund Trial Combining 2 Proprietary Mesoblast Technologies for Rapid Engraftment of Stem Cell Transplants in Cancer Patients

New York, USA; and Melbourne, Australia; December 6, 2016: Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB; Nasdaq:MESO) today announced that MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in Texas and the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund a clinical trial combining Mesoblast’s two synergistic proprietary technologies, Mesenchymal Precursor Cell (MPC)-based expansion and ex-vivo fucosylation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for cord blood transplantation in cancer patients. The trial will provide clinical data on whether the combination of these two technologies synergistically facilitates more rapid cord blood HSC engraftment for bone marrow transplant patients than can be achieved by either technology alone.

The number of allogeneic bone marrow transplants performed globally each year could be substantially increased beyond the current 30,000, for cancer and non-cancer indications, if safe and effective alternative sources of allogeneic HSCs are available, such as cord blood, for patients who cannot find a matched donor. Unfortunately, cord blood transplants are associated with prolonged engraftment times due to insufficient numbers and inadequate homing capacity of cord blood HSCs, adversely impacting their clinical outcomes. [Read more…]