SYRACUSE — The State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse is one of three schools that will work for the next four years on a new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). Upstate Medical, the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, and the University of Rochester Medical Center […]
SYRACUSE — The State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse is one of three schools that will work for the next four years on a new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS).
Upstate Medical, the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, and the University of Rochester Medical Center are working together on the project, which received a $12.1 million grant through the Empire State Stem Cell Program. The money will help move the schools’ research to a clinical trial.
The new treatment implants a special type of cell into patients’ nervous systems, explains Dr. Burk Jubelt of Upstate Medical. The cells are developed a step beyond stem cells into a form that produces a substance known as myelin.
Myelin is the fatty substance that surrounds and protects nerve fibers. In MS patients, myelin and the fibers it protects are damaged.
The damage and resulting scar tissue impairs nerve impulses traveling to and from the brain, resulting in MS symptoms, according to the Associated Medical Schools of New York, which announced the funding for the three schools.
The planned clinical trial will focus on patients with an advanced form of MS, Jubelt says. They are patients who have already lost much of the myelin protecting their nerve fibers.
Currently, their treatment focuses on alleviating symptoms. The new technique would aim to reverse the damage caused by MS, Jubelt explains.
The new treatment has proven successful in mice, he adds. An initial human trial is still about two years away and would focus on 25 to 30 patients spread across all three schools.
If that initial trial is successful, more tests would be conducted in the future, Jubelt says. The therapy is still probably 10 years away from being fully commercialized, he adds.
Researchers have not yet decided whether to try to license the treatment if it’s successful or form a company around it, Jubelt says.
Patients with advanced MS, known as secondary progressive MS, often wind up on long-term disability. In some cases, it’s impossible for them to continue working as early as age 45, Jubelt says.
An obvious economic impact results, he adds. Upstate New York in particular is home to a large concentration of MS patients, he notes.
More cases of the disease occur in northern latitudes in particular, Jubelt says, and Upstate is one of the most heavily populated northern regions in the country. The reasons for the increased prevalence in northern areas are not clear.
Jubelt says MS patients have a near-normal lifespan, which means some are out of work for decades if their condition advances at a young age.
More than 30,000 people with MS live in New York. The disease costs patients in the U.S. $50,000 or more person annually. Over a lifetime, that means more than $2.2 million, according to Associated Medical Schools.
The funding will support hiring at each school involved in the research, Jubelt says. Each location will probably add five or six new employees as the trial progresses.
New York state provided $600 million over 11 years to the Empire State Stem Cell Program in 2007. So far, the state has awarded nearly $200 million and recommended an additional $62.2 million in funding to support stem cell research that explores cures and treatment for life-threatening and chronic illnesses.
Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com