Japan has approved new stem cell based therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and heart failure, which is being considered the first development of its kind in the world. The treatment is expected to become available to patients in the coming months.
According to international media reports, the Japanese pharmaceutical company Sumitomo Pharma has announced that it has received permission to manufacture and sell a treatment for Parkinson’s called “Amchepri.”
This treatment involves transferring stem cells into the patient’s brain so that new cells can replace the damaged ones.
Similarly, Japan’s Ministry of Health has also approved a treatment called “ReHeart” for heart patients, developed by the startup company Cuorips. These special cellular sheets help create new blood vessels in the heart and improve heart function.
According to reports, both treatments may become available in the market by this summer and will be the world’s first commercial medical treatments based on iPS cells.
The founder of iPS cell research, Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012. These cells have the ability to transform into any type of cell in the body.
Japan’s Health Minister Kenichiro Ueno said that this development is expected to benefit not only patients in Japan but around the world.
Reports say that during clinical research the treatment was tested on seven Parkinson’s patients, out of whom four showed clear improvement in their symptoms, while no major side effects were observed.
What is Parkinson’s?
According to medical experts, Parkinson’s is a chronic neurological disease that affects body movement and around 10 million people worldwide are affected by it.
Current treatments only reduce symptoms but cannot stop the disease.
Experts consider the new stem cell therapy a major hope for the future treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
