The loss of these neural cells results in a progressive deterioration marked by discordant movement, intellectual impairment and a spectrum of psychiatric and behavioral disturbances. The clinical symptoms of Huntington's disease generally become apparent between 40 and 50 years of age. There are approximately 25,000 people diagnosed with Huntington's disease in the United States. Currently there is no effective therapy for Huntington's disease.
Treatment is palliative with tranquilizers and anti-psychotic drugs being the only options.
Our approach to treating this disease consists of producing and transplanting NeuroCell-HD to replace the function of neural cells damaged by Huntington's disease. Porcine fetal neural cells are isolated from the area of the pig's brain which develops into the striatum for transplantation into the striatum of the human transplant recipient's brain. We have treated twelve patients in a Phase 1 clinical trial in which NeuroCell-HD was transplanted unilaterally. The Huntington's disease patients in the clinical trial tolerated the procedure well and the preliminary clinical data suggest that the product is safe. Of the twelve patients in this trial, the Huntington's disease in some patients has not progressed, while the disease in most of the patients has progressed as measured by total functional capacity scores.