Trust supports development of drugs to treat spinal cord inj
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Christopher
- Posts: 845
- Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:09 pm
- Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Date of Injury: 12/15/02
Level of Injury:
-dominant side C5, C6, & C7 avulsed. C8 & T1 stretched & crushed
BPI Related Surgeries:
-2 Intercostal nerves grafted to Biceps muscle,
-Free-Gracilis muscle transfer to Biceps Region innervated with 2 Intercostal nerves grafts.
-2 Sural nerves harvested from both Calves for nerve grafting.
-Partial Ulnar nerve grafted to Long Triceps.
-Uninjured C7 Hemi-Contralateral cross-over to Deltoid muscle.
-Wrist flexor tendon transfer to middle, ring, & pinky finger extensors.
Surgical medical facility:
Brachial Plexus Clinic at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
(all surgeries successful)
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Theodore Roosevelt - Location: Los Angeles, California USA
Trust supports development of drugs to treat spinal cord inj
Professor Thomas Carlstedt specializes in Brachial Plexus Injuries (BPI). I met up with him about 6 years ago to discus prospects for my injury (BPI). I was thoroughly impressed by his dedication and tenacity in focusing his life's work on the nature and cure of this injury. As far as I understand, anything he does towards the BPI cure will have a direct correlation on the Spinal Cord Injury cure as well. He has been working with Prof Geoffrey Riasman at University College London to initiate Olfactory Ensheathing Glia trials. Those unfortunately have never come to fruition... MORE FUNDING!
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2010/News/WTX062534.htm
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2010/News/WTX062534.htm
Trust supports development of drugs to treat spinal cord injury
23 August 2010
The Wellcome Trust has awarded a second Seeding Drug Discovery Award to Dr Jonathan Corcoran from the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases at King’s College London, to develop new drugs that can be taken orally to treat spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes damage to the nerves that carry signals from the spine to the brain resulting in reduced mobility or feeling and, in severe cases, partial or total paralysis. There are currently no therapies available that can repair the damaged nerves to recover function and mobility.
Dr Corcoran's group have previously shown that small molecules known as retinoids can stimulate nerves to grow back by inducing a specific pattern of protein expression in the injured nerve cells, which can lead to functional recovery in rodent models.
The award, valued at £3.5 million over 42 months, will support the team in identifying a retinoid drug candidate, which can be taken into a clinical trial of SCI patients in the third year.
Dr Corcoran said, "We have spent many years showing the utility of retinoids in axonal outgrowth and I am delighted that the Wellcome Trust have funded this research to take a small molecule from the bench all the way into the clinic."
Rick Davis, Business Development Manager at the Wellcome Trust, said: "We are pleased to support this project, which addresses an important area of unmet medical need and we hope will pave the way to a brighter future for patients with spinal cord injuries".
The team includes Dr Barret Kalindjian who is a medicinal chemist already based in Dr Corcoran's lab and Professor Thomas Carlstedt, a nerve surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who will carry out the clinical trial.
Early research for this project was part-funded by an award from the King's Business Futures Fund and the Wellcome Trust, which enabled the team to demonstrate that one of the retinoids discovered could be taken orally.
Dr Mike Shaw from King's Business commented: "We are delighted to have been able to support this excellent research both through the King's Business Futures Fund and dedicated commercial support. We look forward to working with Dr Corcoran and the Wellcome Trust to develop and commercialise this molecule."
Dr Corcoran's first award, which has a year left to run, was for £3.1 million to develop small molecules for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The project has already generated intellectual property, which the team are hoping to commercialise.
