Stem cell treatment for Alzheimer’s gets Americord support

An investigational therapy called Neurostem-AD developed by Medipost to treat the neurodegeneration caused by Alzheimer’s disease is currently in clinical trials and is now receiving financial backing from Americord, a cord blood, tissue and placenta bank, Americord officials announced today.

Neurostem-AD uses human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells. A statement from Americord notes that this is the first donation the cord blood bank has made under its corporate giving program for the development of new stem cell therapies based on umbilical cord, cord tissue and tissue derived from placentas.

"At Americord, we are committed to assisting the world's leading scientists as they pursue cutting edge stem cell-based therapies for diseases and conditions that have long-proved to be difficult or impossible to treat," Americord CEO Martin Smithmyer said in the statement. "We are thrilled to make a donation to Medipost to support their research into the treatment of Alzheimer's disease with a stem cell-based therapy."

The clinical trial was established in February 2014 and is scheduled to run until December 2015.

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