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San Antonio, Texas, July 25, 2024 – ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is defined by the ALS Association (als.org) as a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS symptoms vary and patients may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. There is no cure. The Mayo Clinic reports (mayoclinic.org) that no treatments can reverse ALS damage, but they may slow the progression of disease symptoms or help prevent complications. INCELL is committed to tackling innovative ALS therapy.
INCELL’s Chief Science Officer and ALS Project Manager, Dr. Mary Pat Moyer says “Our INCELL team brought together our 31 years’ experience and leveraged our deep scientific, medical, and clinical knowledge of human cells and biomanufacturing. The complexity of the ALS disease, its self-destructive autoimmunity, and its damage to multiple body functions, led us to think that combinations of cell therapies might help ALS patients. We thought that bringing together INCELL’s banked stem cells, which can stimulate neural and tissue repair, combined with a patient’s regulatory immune cells might reduce inflammation, restore immune system balance, and lead to patient improvements. We were right! INCELL plans to expand cell therapies to more patients in more clinical trials while providing a business model for at-home and close-to-home care, with tools for at-home monitoring, while considering the needs of individual patients and their caregivers.”
As stated by Dr. Peter Edenhoffer, INCELL’s Clinical Investigator for ALS cell therapy studies and a practicing neurologist: “I had hoped to learn important information from doing this clinical study, but my experience made me skeptical about outcomes, since no ALS patient’s clinical condition has been improved by any ALS therapy. Now, we have seen many significant, quantified ALS patient improvements after these effective cell therapies. My enthusiasm is now very high for using these unique cell therapies to treat more patients with ALS, other neural diseases, and trauma.”
INCELL’s first patient in this clinical study, MDA, lived a vital, active life with his family and ran his family’s dental business before the ALS diagnosis. He says ” I have now been living with ALS for almost 20 years and have seen my physical health slowly decline while mentally I am as sharp as ever. I provided input to INCELL from an ALS patient’s perspective to designing this study and was honored to be the first ALS patient to receive INCELL’s cell therapy for this terrible disease. I have seen and felt some improvements and I am very optimistic that Dr. Moyer might be on the right track.”
Family members and caregivers are also impacted by ALS and provide very important input about the patient before, during and after the treatments. MDA’s wife and caregiver shared: “After his ALS diagnosis, his mind stayed alert, but his physical condition deteriorated so much that he was unable to even pick up a pen and was confined to a wheelchair. After a few cell therapy visits, he can now grasp a pen and even write his name. His pain and inflammation have decreased, the strength in his arms and legs has increased, and his muscle coordination has improved to where he can take steps to and from the bed, bathroom, or chair. This has meant some newly recovered abilities to write, stand, walk, assume more self-care, and experience better mental health.” His mother added: “To see your child struggle and succumb to ALS is heartbreaking. Over the past year, we have watched my son make noteworthy improvements with INCELL cell therapies. At about the 8th treatment, he could hold a spoon and feed himself certain foods. His choking and drooling became less frequent, and he could write his name and walk short distances. Mentally, these treatment results have lifted his spirits. He pushes himself to complete his exercises, and he has been very positive and happy.” His daily primary caregiver commented: “I have observed improvements in his strength, agility, balance, and confidence to start doing squat exercises. I know that the INCELL Team respects and supports the role of Caregivers in patient care, and I am happy to support the important work INCELL is doing to help ALS patients.”
INCELL is a women-owned small business, founded by Dr. Moyer in 1993. INCELL has been a manufacturer providing media, reagents, cells and tools for innovative life science solutions. The company is privately owned and has been self-funded with new products and applications built on research and development expanded to patient therapies. Moyer received her PhD in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and served for 20 years as a Professor of Surgery and 4 other departments at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She is currently appointed as a University of Texas UT Health San Antonio Professor of Surgery, Translational Sciences, and Cell Systems and Anatomy. She is an elected member (2019) of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in the Bioengineering section and was honored with a 2024 selection as a Fellow of the Texas A&M University Hagler Institute of Advanced Sciences. She not only mentors her INCELL team but has three graduate students and her science-interested grandchildren under her wing.
With over 250 scientific publications, worldwide presentations, community activism, and numerous business and science awards, Moyer brings her passion and more than 56 years’ multidisciplinary experience in human cell biotechnology, cell culture, cell and tissue banking, regenerative medicine, cancer, microbiology, infectious diseases, and education. Her motto is: “hire good people, keep a spiritual center, have joy, love and be loved, and never-never give up!”
Moyer says “I am overwhelmingly enthusiastic about leading the manufacturing of new, effective cell therapies and exploring innovative treatments with other products that can help patients in need and can be provided as at-home or close-to-home care. To achieve these goals, INCELL cannot do it alone, so we have developed extensive, trusted collaborations with other companies, community organizations, scientists, clinicians, universities, and non-profit entities. This includes the Foundation for Cell, Gene and Tissue Innovations (CGTI; fcgti.org), a 501(c)3 Texas non-profit that accepts and distributes tax-deductible donations to achieve its mission to support research and education, and Clinical Trials to accelerate novel therapies for human diseases.
Most recently, this includes a CGTI ALS Fund honoring University of Texas Longhorn Legend, Steve “Bam Bam” McMichael, an August 2024 Pro-Football Hall of Fame Inductee (only the 5th in UT Austin history) and an ALS Patient. That new CGTI fund will be kicked off at a UT Austin Tribute to McMichael being held at Scholz Garten (1607 San Jacinto, Austin Tx) 1 pm Saturday July 27, 2024. The event is free and open to the public. I will present updates from INCELL’s ALS studies and its team approach to getting things done!”
Source: INCELL
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