Right Turn: Multiple sclerosis clinical trial begins in Ottawa

Click image to go to CTV News Ottawa video

We’ve written about some questionable “clinical trials” recruiting patients in Canada recently, so it only makes sense to follow-up with some hopeful news about a legitimate, regulator-approved trial that launched this past week.

Dr. Mark Freedman, Senior Scientist of the Neuroscience Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, is leading the Canadian trial, which will determine the safety and efficacy of using autologous mesenchymal stem cells to treat multiple sclerosis. The trial is named MESCAMS (MEsenchymal Stem Cell therapy for CAnadian MS patients), and is expected to involve 200 patients globally–including 40 in Canada, 20 of whom will be at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the other 20 at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.

It’s early on, but the capacity of mesenchymal stem cells to reduce inflammation and potentially promote repair has many hopeful–and the best part is that the study is thorough, controlled and based on robust, peer-reviewed research.

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Peter Raaymakers

Communications Coordinator at Stem Cell Network

Peter is the Stem Cell Network's Communications Manager, and he has been with the Network since early 2010. He's a communicator by trade who hadn't taken a science course since grade 11, so his foray into the field of advanced science and research has been an eye-opening bit of mental exercise--but a very rewarding one.

Latest posts by Peter Raaymakers (see all)

• Right Turn: A lesson in blood development - February 27, 2015
• Right Turn: Multiple sclerosis clinical trial begins in Ottawa - January 30, 2015
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