Melbourne, Australia; 19 May 2010: Australia's regenerative medicine company, Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB; ADR:MBLTY), today announced that it has received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin Phase 2 clinical trials of its "off-the-shelf" or allogeneic stem cell product NeoFuse^TM for fusion of the cervical spine in the neck. As with all of Mesoblast's previous Investigational New Drug (IND) submissions, FDA clearance was obtained within the minimum 30-day period.

John Naimi is accustomed to leading a life full of family, farm work and travel. But today, the 55-year-old walnut and almond farmer avoids playing with his nieces and nephews, has scaled back his business and stayed home while his wife traveled to Europe this past summer.

"If I walk too much, my foot becomes stiff. If I get a tiny cut, I know I'm going to have excruciating pain," says Naimi, who lives in San Jose when he is not at his farm in Gustine, Calif.

The Cellmedicine Institutes reported yesterday publication in the peer reviewed journal, International Archives of Medicine, of a heart failure patient who underwent profound recovery after receiving adult stem cell therapy. The publication is freely available here.

"Stem cell therapy is a new science, and although the results discussed in the paper are promising, only the conduct of double-blinded, placebo controlled trials will allow definitive conclusions to be drawn," said Dr. Paz Rodriguez, Medical Director of the Cellmedicine Panama clinic and coauthor of the study.

Australian doctors say a new stem cell treatment which saved the life of a young Canberra man suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) should be adopted more widely.

Ben Leahy, 19, was struck down with rapid onset MS that left him paralysed and fighting for his life in Canberra Hospital.

"If he wasn't in intensive care he would have died," neurologist Colin Andrews told ABC TV on Tuesday.

At present, the use of stem cells in heart disease treatments is one of the most common practices. However, working with stem cells involves many difficulties.

Spanish researchers have employed for the first time adult cells extracted from a human heart to turn stem cells from adipose tissue into cardiac myocytes. In other words, they achieved to "reprogram" adult stem cells, which might improve treatments for heart disease therapeutical.