Kadimastem Augments the Company's ALS Activities

Kadimastem Appoints Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur as a Member of the Company's Scientific Advisory Board

Jan. 5, 2014

Kadimastem Augments the Company's ALS Activities: Kadimastem Appoints Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur as a Member of the Company's Scientific Advisory BoardJanuary 1, 2013 – Kadimastem (TASE:KDST), a developer of stem cell-based drug screening and therapeutic solutions, is augmenting its scientific leadership, announcing the appointment of Prof. Tamir Ben-Hor as a member of the company's scientific advisory committee.

Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur is the head of the Department of Neurology, and the head of the Brain Division,  Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Holding an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Hebrew University, Prof. Ben-Hur performed his residency in neurology at the Hadassah Ein Kerem University Medical Center (1990-1994), and did a fellowship in developmental neurobiology of neural stem cells at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, 1995-1997.

Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur is known as global expert in the fields of neuro-immunology, neural stem cell biology, transplantation of stem cells in neural diseases, and neuro-virology. He is considered a world-renowned researcher in the development of various types of stem cells in the brain from neural stem cells. In his studies, he researches how neural stem cells transplanted into the brain migrate, protect the brain from various pathological conditions, and repair damage to the myelin sheath in the brain and spinal cord.

Prof. Ben-Hur is continuing this research with the goal of making transplantation of stem cells from various sources viable in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, he is also researching the behavior of autologous stem cells of the adult brain in various physiological and pathological conditions.

Prof. Ben-Hur has received various research grants from many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science, the National Institute of Psychobiology, the Human Frontiers in Science Program Organization (HFSPO), the American Multiple Sclerosis Association, and others.

Prof. Michel Revel,  Kadimastem's chief scientist,  said, "We are pleased and proud to announce the appointment of Prof. Ben-Hur to the Kadimastem scientific advisory board. There is no doubt that the clinical and research experience of Prof. Ben-Hur in diseases of the nervous system, together with his being a leading international thinker in the use of stem cell therapy in central nervous system diseases, represent a significant addition of strength to our scientific advisory board. Especially in light of the company's intentions to begin ALS in-vivo studies in mice injected with healthy astrocyte glial cells, as a first step toward human trials.

"Yossi Ben-Yossef, CEO of Kadimastem, said, "We are very proud that Prof. Ben-Hur has agreed to join our scientific advisory board. His impressive scientific achievements and his vast experience in researching the biology of neural stem cells, and the transplantation of stem cells in nervous system diseases, will contribute great value in furthering our advanced clinical development plans.

Yossi Ben-Yossef added that "Kadimastem has set itself a mission to be a leader in the discovery and development of drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. This field suffers from a shortage of drugs that can slow (and in the future maybe even prevent) the damage to the nervous system resulting from degenerative diseases such as Huntington's Disease (HD), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). We recently signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with global pharmaceutical giant Merck Serono, which serves as further evidence of the need the pharmaceutical industry has for a human stem cell-based platform for drug screening, and as a proof of Kadimastem's leading technologies and high-level scientific capabilities in this field."