Israel-based BrainStorm is developing NurOwn for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but according to the researchers these stem cells can be used for MS as well. The interim results are very promising:

" "It's very uncommon to give at such an early point in a clinical study efficacy data, but we cannot ignore the fact on an individual basis we could see improvement in many of the patients involved, each one in different areas," Moshe Neuman, CEO of Biomedical Research Design, which serves as a contract research organization for the trial, said. "

" In some patients breathing improved, in others it was muscle strength and in others it was speech, he told Reuters.

Neuman said a final report was expected by the end of the year after each patient has been observed for nine months.

BrainStorm President Chaim Lebovits said the preliminary results demonstrate that the stem cells have the potential not only to stop deterioration but perhaps even cure ALS.

"The coming phases in the trial will have to prove this, but these results also reaffirm our belief that we have an enormous potential of being successful with less severe indications such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's," he said. "

" Patients in the trial were transplanted with stem cells derived from their own bone marrow and treated with the NurOwn stem cell technology.

The Phase I/II trial, designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of BrainStorm's therapy, is being conducted at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center. The company submitted the interim safety report to Israel's Health Ministry."

It seems to me assuring that Hadassah Medical Center is involved in the clinical trials. 

"This important safety and tolerability data are reassuring as we progress to the next half of this trial," said Dimitrios Karussis of the Neurology Department at Hadassah, who is leading the trial. "Although this is an interim safety summary report documenting achievement of the study's primary endpoint, we cannot ignore some possible promising indications of clinical efficacy observed in single patients."

This is what I have found on NurOwn's technology:

"The NurOwn™ technology is based on a novel differentiation protocol which reprograms bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into neuron-supporting cells. These specialized cells, “MSC-NTF”are capable of releasing neurotrophic factors such as Glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). 

The ability to induce autologous adult mesenchymal stem cells into MSC-NTF cells makes NurOwn™ technology highly attractive for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and PD as well as MS and spinal cord injury."

As far as I see, today there is an overlap between research and treatment, just like in the case of Celltex, when a certain technology is in clinical trials, but in some place they already use it in treatment. Could it be that the above treatment will be available in the near future?