A patient has become the first to receive a stem cell transplant for Parkinson's disease outside a clinical trial, following conditional approval of the treatment in Japan earlier this year.
Amchepry (also called raguneprocel) uses induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from healthy donors. The cells are then developed into precursors of dopamine-producing brain cells before being transplanted into the patient's brain. (see BioNews 975 and 1258).
Japanese regulators granted conditional approval for the treatment in March 2026, following a clinical trial involving seven patients aged between 50 and 69, who received either five million or ten million cells implanted on both sides of the brain (see BioNews 1332).
Medical Xpress has further information.