NeoStem gets research grant worth $595,252

NeoStem (AMEX:NBS), a cell therapy company, has snagged a research grant valued at $595,252 to develop stem cell technology against radiation exposure.

Shares of the company popped 9.60 per cent reaching 46 cents each on the American Stock Exchange on Monday morning.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the grant to NeoStem.

NeoStem, in the first year, will get $295,252 and $300,000 in the projects second year.

Research will be headed by Denis O. Rodgerson, director of stem cell science and by Mariusz Ratajczak, head of the stem cell biology program at the James Graham Brown Cancer Centre at the University of Louisville.

Ratajczak is the co-inventor of the very small embryonic-like stem cell, or VSEL technology. NeoStem has a worldwide exclusive license to VSEL technology. Stem cells are taken from bone marrow opposed from embryos.

"NeoStem is pleased the NIAID is funding this cutting edge technology that we hope will reinvent the treatment landscape for acute radiation syndrome," NeoStem chief executive Robin Smith said in a statement Monday.  

"We plan to continue to pursue grants to fund our VSEL technology platform development with non-dilutive capital."

The grant will fund studies to investigate VSEL’s potential as a counter-measure to radiological and nuclear threats.

A therapy derived from a patient’s own stem cells will be developed to help patients who have been exposed to radiation due to a nuclear accident, and to treat cancer patients whose immune systems have been compromised due to radiation therapy. 

Radiation can kill a person in one to six weeks after exposure. VSELs might be an ideal cell therapy to regenerate the body’s immune system and repair other tissues damaged by radiation exposure, the company said.

Early studies show that VSELs are resistant to lethal radiation which destroys other immune system restoring stem cells in the body. This makes autologuous treatment post-exposure possible, it said.

NeoStem continues to develop and build on its core capabilities in cell therapy to capitalize on the paradigm shift that is occurring in medicine.

NeoStem is focused on accelerating the development of proprietary cellular therapies and becoming a single source for collection, storage, manufacturing, therapeutic development and transportation of cells for cell based medicine and regenerative science globally.