A phase 1 human clinical trial is beginning in Queensland today, with patients from across Australia, to test “olfactory cell nerve bridges” to treat chronic spinal cord injury.
Cells will be harvested from the patient’s own nose, purified, and prepared into specialised nerve bridges, which are then transplanted into the injury site within the spinal cord.
The cells within the olfactory (sense of smell) nerve within the nose have numerous therapeutic properties for repairing and regenerating nerves.
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“With more than 20,000 Australians living with spinal cord injury, and another 300 or more people having spinal cord injury each year, now is the time to translate this therapy into the clinic,” Griffith University researcher Professor James St John said.
To encourage and reinforce regeneration, participants will undergo intensive rehabilitation for up to one year after receiving the transplant.
Thirty years ago, Perry Cross injured his spinal cord and is now paralysed from the neck down “unable to move, unable to feel, unable to breathe”.
“It is incredible that we are now on the cusp of developing a treatment, which may allow us to repair the damage to the spinal cord and regain function,” said Cross, who has founded a spinal research foundation in his name.
Patients participating in the trial will be from south-east Queensland, northern New South Wales, Sydney and Melbourne.
