— Amendment replaces saline injections with sham injections in the control group —
MELVILLE, N.Y., April 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. ("BioRestorative", "BRTX" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:BRTX), a clinical stage company focused on stem cell-based therapies, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has cleared an important amendment to the protocol of the ongoing Phase 2 study investigating the use of BRTX-100, the Company's lead cell therapy candidate, in treating chronic lumbar disc disease ("cLDD"). The protocol amendment removes saline injection in the control arm of the study and replaces it with a sham injection.
"The FDA clearance of this important amendment highlights our positive relationship with the agency, brings additional safety to our subject participants, and helps preclude the possibility of transient clinical outcomes in the control group, which can impact end of study readouts," said Lance Alstodt, BioRestorative's Chief Executive Officer. "To further clarify, control patients in our Phase 2 clinical trial will now have a needle placed in close proximity to the target disc, but the disc will not be pierced, nor will it have saline injected into it. This positive change in our protocol will not have any impact from a timing perspective, affirming our already established 2024 enrollment completion target."
BRTX-100, a novel cell-based therapeutic engineered to target areas of the body that have little blood flow, is the Company's lead clinical candidate. The safety and efficacy of BRTX-100 in treating cLDD is being evaluated in a Phase 2, prospective, randomized, double-blinded and controlled study. A total of up to 99 eligible subjects will be enrolled at up to 16 clinical sites in the United States. Subjects included in the trial will be randomized 2:1 to receive either BRTX-100 or placebo.
About BioRestorative Therapies, Inc.
BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. () develops therapeutic products using cell and tissue protocols, primarily involving adult stem cells. Our two core programs, as described below, relate to the treatment of disc/spine disease and metabolic disorders:
• Disc/Spine Program (brtxDISC): Our lead cell therapy candidate, BRTX-100, is a product formulated from autologous (or a person's own) cultured mesenchymal stem cells collected from the patient's bone marrow. We intend that the product will be used for the non-surgical treatment of painful lumbosacral disc disorders or as a complementary therapeutic to a surgical procedure. The BRTX-100 production process utilizes proprietary technology and involves collecting a patient's bone marrow, isolating and culturing stem cells from the bone marrow and cryopreserving the cells. In an outpatient procedure, BRTX-100 is to be injected by a physician into the patient's damaged disc. The treatment is intended for patients whose pain has not been alleviated by non-invasive procedures and who potentially face the prospect of surgery. We have commenced a Phase 2 clinical trial using BRTX-100 to treat chronic lower back pain arising from degenerative disc disease.
• Metabolic Program (ThermoStem): We are developing a cell-based therapy candidate to target obesity and metabolic disorders using brown adipose (fat) derived stem cells to generate brown adipose tissue ("BAT"). BAT is intended to mimic naturally occurring brown adipose depots that regulate metabolic homeostasis in humans. Initial preclinical research indicates that increased amounts of brown fat in animals may be responsible for additional caloric burning as well as reduced glucose and lipid levels. Researchers have found that people with higher levels of brown fat may have a reduced risk for obesity and diabetes.