Neuralstem's patented technology enables, for the first time, the ability to produce neural stem cells of the human brain and spinal cord in commercial quantities, and the ability to control the differentiation of these cells into mature, physiologically relevant human neurons and glia. The company is targeting major central nervous system diseases including: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, traumatic spinal cord Injury, Huntington's disease and stroke.
Neuralstem commenced a Phase I safety trial to evaluate its treatment of ALS patients with its spinal cord stem cells in January, 2010, at Emory University.
ALS is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain, leading to the degeneration and death of the motor neurons in the spinal cord that control muscle movement.
Pre-clinical work has shown Neuralstem's cells to extend the life of rats with ALS (as reported the journal TRANSPLANTATION, October 16, 2006, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University researchers, and also reversed paralysis in rats with Ischemic Spastic Paraplegia, (as reported in NEUROSCIENCE, June 29, 2007, in collaboration with researchers at University of California at San Diego).
Neuralstem’s common stock is traded on the NYSE Amex under the symbol “CUR.”
