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Correction

Aug 3, 2012

By Dave Andrusko

As we reported earlier this week The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis has been given FDA approval to begin a clinical trial to treat recent spinal cord injury with adult Schwann cells.

In our story (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2012/08/fda-approves-spinal-spinal-cord-injury-therapy-using-adult-stem-cells) about the FDA’s approval, The Schwann cell procedure was accurately described in the text, but mislabeled in the story’s headline. The headline mistakenly said they would be using “adult stem cells.”  The Miami Project doesn’t use stem cells, adult stem cells or embryonic stem cells.

In this trial it is using a patient’s own Schwann cells which are ‘nurse’ cells in the body, acting as a sheath around large nerves to protect and nurture them. In the trial patients will have some of their Schwann cells removed by a biopsy procedure from a nerve in their leg.

We apologize for any  misunderstanding. This type of cell therapy has been tested successfully in animals for years, and we are very excited that it has now progressed to an approved human trial. 

While the technique to be used in this new approved trial is similar in some respects to the adult stem cell transplant technique used by Dr. Carlos Lima of Portugal to treat spinal cord injury, the Miami Project technique does not use stem cells of any kind and only uses the patient’s own cells.

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