World’s first test of controversial therapy to cure spinal cord injury is no longer in motion

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a stem cell trial’s cancellation disappoints paraplegic patient and a Northwestern researcher.

Ryan Neslund found out he never would be able to walk again after a motorcross accident in April 2011. Neslund, who now resides in Arizona, joined a clinical trial of an embryonic stem cell therapy within weeks of his accident. That trial was ended, though neslund will continue to be monitored.

Dr. Richard Fessler, a professor of neurosurgery at Northwestern University, performed one of the first surgeries of it’s kind on Neslund using controversial stem cell therapy. However, sever months later, after a total of four patients had received the transplants, Fessler opened an email from his office informing him that the trial was finished.

” Geron Corp., the California-based company financing the study, had decided to shift focus to cancer drugs, and with that move, another foray into stem cell therapies had come to a jarring end,” explains reporter Cynthia Dizikes, Chicago Tribune reporter.

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