First Patient Undergoes Expanded Cord Blood Transplant in StemEx Study

The first patient in Gamida Cell-Teva Joint Venture’s ExCell study has undergone a StemEx transplant in Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

StemEx is a graft of expanded stem/progenitor cells derived from a single unit of umbilical cord blood and transplanted in combination with non-expanded cells from the same unit.

The single-arm, multicenter study is asssessing the efficacy and safety of the StemEx transplantation as a treatment for hematological malignancies, including leukemia and lymphoma. The FDA granted ExCell a special protocol assessment in October 2006 and StemEx orphan drug status in March 2005, Teva said.