Japanese Stem cell trial: Reply to my question by Jun Takahashi (team lead)

[Farooqji]

Yesterday I asked him about the status of the subject trial. He was kind enough to reply me within a few hours as follows:

"The results of the clinical trial should be confidential. In addition, it is delayed because of COVID-19. So it will take a couple of year until we can publish the results. I am sorry about that."

[Juliegrace]

At least he responded.

[park_bear]

Two years seems like a long time to analyze a study, but I am aware of another case where it also took two years.

[WinnieThePoo in reply to park_bear]

I think I interpreted that as saying the trial procedure was put back due to Covid, and so the outcome won't be available for 2 years from now - not that it takes 2 years to evaluate the result. I think language issues didn't help - why is confidentiality an issue? Nobody asked to know the participants name - just what happened to the grafted stem cells

But it's clear - stem cell therapy, whilst it might eventually hold the best solution, is VERY slow burn.

[Farooqji in reply to WinnieThePoo]

I agree with you that stem cell therapy is the best hope for us in the current "On Horizon" therapies. But the ongoing trials are pathetically slow. I was expecting too much from the Japanese trial but it also has lingered on. It was told earlier in 2018 when the trial was kicked off that if successful, this therapy will be available commercially by 2025. One of the reasons may be that the Parkinson's patients advocacy is weak. Or the lack of interest in the research may be attributable to the myth that it is the disease of old people. The world doesn't bother about passing away of old people three to five years before the natural death otherwise

[MarionP]

It's common, especially if the initial results are not necessarily promising or simple, but even if they are not, his response is still very common and quite normal. There are investment (define as a very broad meaning of the word) issues here, and a direct response to a stranger emailer is something of a public commitment to a public unknown, which, unless you are of an advertising posture, imprudent. If you only look at it from the perspective of potential hopeful end-user patient consumers, it's really a very narrow focus and not attending the big picture involved for this sort of enterprise. There are so many possible dynamics involved one wouldn't know where to begin.