It was a double-blind study. Doctors and patients didn't know what was infused," Dr. Ricordi said. "Two infusions of 100 million stem cells were delivered within three days, for a total of 200 million cells in each subject in the treatment group."
Researchers found the treatment was safe, with no infusion-related serious adverse events.
Patient survival at one month was 91% in the stem cell treated group versus 42% in the control group. Among patients younger than 85 years old, 100% of those treated with mesenchymal stem cells survived at one month.
Dr. Ricordi and colleagues also found time to recovery was faster among those in the treatment arm. More than half of patients treated with mesenchymal stem cell infusions recovered and went home from the hospital within two weeks after the last treatment. More than 80% of the treatment group recovered by day 30, versus less than 37% in the control group.
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They are replicating this study on a larger scale in Mexico - phase I results were to be released in December, but nothing yet.
