Lineage Cell Therapeutics initiates the DOSED for spinal cord injury

Lineage Cell Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, has announced that the Company has initiated the DOSED (Delivery of Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells (OPCs) for Spinal Cord Injury: Evaluation of a Novel Device) clinical study.

The DOSED study will evaluate the safety and utility of the Manual Inject Parenchymal Spinal Delivery System (MI PSD System), a novel delivery device developed to deliver OPC1 directly to the area of injury in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). OPC1 is an investigational, allogeneic stem cell-derived cell transplant, comprised of oligodendrocyte progenitor and related glial cells. OPC1 is designed to replace or support cells in the spinal cord that are absent or dysfunctional due to traumatic injury and is intended to help restore or augment functional activity in persons suffering from an SCI. Improved functional activity can lead to greater mobility and enhanced quality of life for patients and significant cost-savings for caregivers. The DOSED study will enrol both subacute (between 21 to 42 days following injury) and chronic (between 1 to 5 years following injury) SCI patients.

“Differentiated cell transplantation is a promising therapeutic approach, so it is a privilege that Lineage has received written clearance from FDA to launch the DOSED study as part of our continued development of OPC1,” stated Brian M. Culley, Lineage’s CEO. “The DOSED study, the third clinical study of OPC1, will evaluate MI PSD, a novel delivery system designed through an external collaboration, to deliver our proprietary cells over several minutes without the need for stopping patient ventilation. The delivery system also is compatible with a forthcoming immediate-use formulation of OPC1 which we developed for this program, and which eliminates the dose preparation steps conducted in prior studies. This study will be the first time OPC1 is administered to patients with a chronic spinal cord injury, which will be a significant milestone, as it represents an additional and larger potential patient population for this experimental therapy. In addition to the safety and performance of the new device, we also will be collecting functional assessments on all patients, which gives us the opportunity to investigate any signals of efficacy that may arise. The first study site will be UC San Diego Health. We look forward to building on the promising work and clinical results observed in prior studies of OPC1.”

OPC1 has an extensive long-term safety profile and has been tested in two clinical trials to date: a five-patient Phase 1 safety trial in acute thoracic SCI, where all active subjects have been followed for at least 13 years; and a 25-patient Phase 1/2a multicentre dose-escalation trial in subacute cervical SCI, where all active subjects have been evaluated for at least 7 years. Long-term safety monitoring is ongoing for both studies, with no unexpected serious adverse events attributable to the OPC1 transplant being reported to date. Results from both studies have been published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. The Phase 1/2a publication of OPC1 in subacute cervical SCI is available here and the publication from the Phase 1 clinical study of OPC1 in acute thoracic SCI is available here. The OPC1 program was one of the first cell therapy clinical trials to be supported by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) under Proposition 71.

Lineage founded the Annual Spinal Cord Injury Investor Symposium in 2023 and has co-sponsored the event in partnership with The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation in each year since then. The goals of this collaborative effort include increasing disease awareness, improving the probability of success in product development, and supporting clinical trial participation. The Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. Presenting companies have included AbbVie, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Neuralink, NervGen Pharma and ONWARD.