An Israeli startup, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, announced a successful trial of its therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Reuters reported on Monday.

A single dose of the stem cell treatment called NurOwn was administered in a mid-stage phase 2a trial in 14 patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

“Nearly all subjects in this study experienced clinical benefit from treatment with NurOwn,” the company said on Monday.

Of the 12 patients with three or more months of follow-up, 92 percent experienced an improvement in disease progression. NurOwn slowed the progression of ALS using two different parameters and had a strong effect on the rate of decline in lung function, BrainStorm said.

The NurOwn treatment involves developing “neuron-supporting” cells from stem cells derived from patient’s own bone marrow.

Reuters also reported that “[i]n October the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated NurOwn as a ‘fast-track’ product to treat ALS.”

In a press release, BrainStorm’s CEO Tony Fiorino said:

“We are gratified to have the final data from this study and are very encouraged by the results.This study not only extends our earlier phase 1/2 findings regarding the safety of NurOwn, but also provide a consistent and highly promising picture of NurOwn’s efficacy. In particular, I would highlight that we observed not only a highly meaningful reduction in ALS progression on mean ALSFRS and FVC, but we saw subjects with prolonged stabilization and even improvements in function, and all this was achieved with just a single dose of NurOwn. We are excited to proceed to a multi-dose study to see if these positive results can be amplified and extended by administering repeated doses.”

In April of last year Brainstorm received an American patent for NorOwn and entered into agreements to conduct clinical studies in the United States.

In The Israel We Should be Talking About, which was published in the December 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Rabbi Richard Block mentioned Brainstorm’s accomplishments.

And while people everywhere were dumping ice water on their heads in the ALS Challenge, Israel’s BrainStorm Therapeutics was making a significant breakthrough in the treatment of ALS, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis, based on growing and enhancing stem cells harvested from patients’ own bone marrow. The treatment is now in advanced trials at Mass General and the Mayo Clinic.

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