A Statement on Stem Cell Trial Funding: July 9, 2012

The Tisch MS stem cell research team regrets to announce that the two major grant applications by which we had hoped to fund our proposed clinical trial of stem cell therapy in Multiple Sclerosis have not been approved. An application to the philanthropic arm of the Hearst Foundations was declined outright, while a similar application to the National MS Society remains unapproved pending several changes in the study protocol. The upshot is that work on the clinical trial will be at the very least delayed until sufficient funds can be obtained. We share our patients’ frustrations at this news and will continue to exhaust every option available to secure funds for this study.