A significant number of individuals with Crohn's disease do not find relief with existing steroidal, immunosuppressive, or biologic therapies, and are forced to seek surgery or other drastic measures for treatment.
PROCHYMAL® adult human stem cells are manufactured from healthy, volunteer donors, extensively tested, and are stored to be available as needed. Human and animal studies have shown that the cells do not require any donor-recipient matching. The cells may have both immunosuppressive and healing benefits in Crohn's disease. The cells naturally migrate specifically to sites of inflammation, so their effects are believed to be local and self-limiting rather than systemic.
Protocol 603 is enrolling subjects to evaluate the ability of PROCHYMAL to induce remission in subjects with moderate-to-severe disease (Crohn's disease activity index -- CDAI -- of between 250 and 450, inclusive) who have failed or been intolerant of at least one drug in each of the steroid, immunosuppressant, and biologic classes.