Japan approves stem-cell treatment for Parkinson’s in world first
The Straits Times
The groundbreaking therapies for Parkinson’s and severe heart failure are set to reach patients within months. Read more at straitstimes.com.
TOKYO – Japan has approved groundbreaking stem-cell treatments for Parkinson’s and severe heart failure, one of the manufacturers and media reports said on March 6, with the therapies expected to reach patients within months.
Pharmaceutical company Sumitomo Pharma said it received the green light for the manufacture and sale of Amchepry, its Parkinson’s disease treatment that transplants stem cells into a patient’s brain.
Japan’s Health Ministry also gave the go-ahead to ReHeart, heart muscle sheets developed by medical start-up Cuorips that can help form new blood vessels and restore heart function, media reports said.
The treatments could be on the market and rolled out to patients as early as this summer, reports said, citing the Health Ministry, becoming the world’s first commercially available medical products using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize in 2012 for his research into iPS cells, which have the potential to develop into any cell in the body.
“I hope this will bring relief to patients not only in Japan but around the world,” Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno told a press conference.
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