Iran’s Royan Institute has begun using stem cells to treat patients with kidney disease in a new clinical trial. The Institute is a non-profit research organisation that has been working in the fields of Reproductive Biomedicine and infertility treatments since 1991.
In 1998, the institute was approved by the government to work with stem cells. In total the institute has 46 scientific members, 186 lab technicians working and three research institutes.
In the past 17 years, the institute has been at the forefront of research into stem cells and regenerative medicine. Most of the research is funded by charity and the institute has hundreds of generous donors who contribute to various stem cell research projects.
Dr Abdolhossein Shahroodi announced the new clinical trial saying: “Royan Institute will start work on treatment of kidney disease with the help of charity activists.” The institute has been working on treating kidney patients using stem cells for a number of years and are excited to reach the human clinical trial phase.
Shahroodi mentions the positive results so far, saying: “for the past six months, we have carried out tests on two kidney patients suffering from polycystic which we hope will produce positive outcomes.”
Researchers suggest that the use of stem cells may help reduce the need for immunosuppressive drugs. These drugs carry a number of potential side effects including increased risk of a serious infection, fever and lower back pain.
Dr Shahroodi hopes to have the results ready by March 2016 so a stem cell treatment can be rolled out in the near future.
Source: Treating kidney patients with stem cells enters clinical phase
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