First patient receives treatment in Geron Corp.’s embryonic stem-cell clinical trial

Make way for the future, at least when it comes to stem-cell therapy.

An Atlanta hospital treated the first patient Friday in a nationwide clinical trial of a therapy derived from embryonic stem cells. The clinical trial, run by pharmaceutical company Geron Corp., seeks to test whether experimental cells, known as GRNOPC1, are safe for use in humans and whether patients will regain neuromuscular control in their legs and torsos.

The Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a rehabilitation hospital that specializes in people who have spinal cord injuries or disease, and Northwestern Medicine in Chicago are currently enrolling patients in the trial. Participants must be newly injured and receive treatment within 14 days, the Shepherd Center said in a statement.

The Los Angeles Times reports on how this clinical trial works.

How important is this trial? After the test won Food and Drug Administration approval on July 30, Paul Abrams, a doctor and biotechnology consultant, heralded the date as one that would go down in history as the “beginning of regenerative medicine.” “If these [human embryonic stem cells] are safe and perform as hoped, that injection will be the 21st century’s ‘shot-heard-round-the-world,’ ” he wrote in “Human embryonic stem cells approved by FDA for clinical trials, yet totally ignored by the media” for the Huffington Post.

To find out about the clinical trials or to enroll, go to Geron Corp. or ClinicalTrials.gov.

-- Mary Forgione / Los Angeles Times