ASX-listed Kiwi biotech firm Living Cell Technologies won't seek provisional consent for its treatment for Parkinson's disease after the latest trial did not show a "statistically significant difference" between people who received the treatment and those who didn't.
The Melbourne-based company halted trading of its shares yesterday ahead of the trial's results, which it was hoping would give it the all-clear to pursue commercial sales of its treatment as early as next year.
"More data analysis and input from our advisers is required but at this time we cannot proceed with a regulatory application," chief executive Ken Taylor said in a statement to the ASX.
Living Cell developed the NTCELL treatment for Parkinson's disease using choroid plexus brain cells from neonatal pigs, which are implanted into a damaged site in the brain and then function as a "neurochemical factory" producing factors that promote new central nervous system growth and repair disease-induced nerve degeneration.
The cell therapy had shown potential in early trials as a disease-modifying agent in Parkinson's disease.