The three-year partnership between Generali and Revert, the Italian non-profit organization at the international forefront of cell therapy clinical trial on ALS, is about to start.
Trieste/Milan. Generali and Associazione Revert Onlus announce the beginning of a three-year partnership to support cell therapy clinical trial on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
The goal of the partnership is to allow the Revert team to complete the trial by autumn to later extend it to other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Based on an Italian technique, the scientific project is at the forefront of stem cell trial in the world.
“We are delighted to support a scientific project of Italian excellence in one of the major medical and social challenges," said Mario Greco, Generali Group CEO. "We believe that this research may significantly contribute to the identification of a cure for neurodegenerative diseases, improving the society we live in.”
Cell therapy clinical trial on ALS started in June 2012 at the Santa Maria Hospital in Terni in cooperation with the Stem Cell Foundation and has been authorized by the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità and by the Italian Drugs Agency (AIFA). It is coordinated by professor Angelo Vescovi, Scientific Director of Revert (the former Neurothon) and IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza of San Pio (San Giovanni Rotondo), who developed this technique in 1996.
The research and trial are breakthrough advancements in the stem cell field and they are carried out in compliance with international law and EMA-European Medicine Agency rules, using cells that are produced according to the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) procedure and with the Italian AIFA certification, with no ethical implications.
“This partnership fills me with joy," said professor Angelo Luigi Vescovi, "because it enables us to widen the range and impact of our research, giving an honest and real hope of future treatment to patients and their families and proves that Italy is in the forefront among the countries that are conducting stem cell trials today. This is an experimental cell therapy study on ALS, carried out in compliance with the most rigorous international scientific, clinical and ethical criteria on a lethal neurologic disease. Our desire is to extend this trial to other neurodegenerative diseases, capitalizing the studies, the efforts and the research made by Revert during these years.”
For more information on the partnership, visit the Generali Group website.