X-Message-Number: 15138
From: "Jan Coetzee" <>
Subject: StemCells
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:13:57 -0500

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StemCells Shares Soar After Brain Cell Transplant Paper 


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares of StemCells Inc. (NasdaqNM:STEM - news) soared 
70 percent on Tuesday after the company said it had succeeded in transplanting 
human brain cells into mice and that these cells were able to regenerate and 
show neurological activity. 


Shares of the Sunnyvale, Calif. company were up $1-3/4 at $4-1/4 on Nasdaq, but 
the stock was well below its 52-week high of $20. 


StemCells is focused on the discovery and development of therapies to treat 
diseases of the central nervous system, pancreas, and liver that use stem cells 
to repair or repopulate damaged or lost tissue. 


Stem cells are early-stage undifferentiated master cells capable of developing 
into many different types of specialized cells, such as neurons, bone, or heart 
tissue. Researchers hope the cells can one day be routinely delivered directly 
to diseased human tissue to treat or cure a variety of ailments including 
Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. 


In findings reported in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National 
Academy of Sciences, the company's researchers said they were able to isolate 
human central nervous system stem cells which then formed new ``daughter'' stem 
cells. 


When implanted in mice, the stem cells proliferated and showed neural activity 
for more than a year, according to the published report. The progeny of the 
cells differentiated into all types of brain cells, the researchers said. 


This type of implantation has been done previously with genetically-modified 
cells, but not with unmodified cells. 


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