It is now known that progenitor stem cells are present in the spinal cord.
Exposure of cultured neural progenitor cells to hypoxia also showed higher neural progenitor cell differentiation and maturation with sovateltide, an endothelin B receptor agonist. Several models of spinal cord injury have demonstrated neurogenesis after injury.
In vitro studies show that sovateltide treatment significantly augments neurogenesis and neuronal re-networking following spinal cord injury.
In vivo studies show that sovateltide significantly improves motor function recovery after spinal cord injury in the rat.
Sovateltide is going through extensive human studies in other indications. We are conducting a phase II study to clinically evaluate sovateltide in patients with acute spinal cord injury.
