Five Cord Blood Transplant Centers in Catalonia and Valencia Join a Study to Test a New Technique to Treat Leukemia an...( JERUSALEM June 3 /- The Gamida Ce...)

JERUSALEM, June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gamida Cell-Teva Joint Venture announced today that five prestigious cord blood transplantations centers in Spain, three in Barcelona and two in Valencia, have joined the Excel study.

    Participating clinical sites include, in alphabetical order:

    - Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona

    Principal Investigator, Dr. Enric Carreras, MD

    - Hospital Clinico Universitario de Valencia, Valencia

    Principal Investigator, Dr. Cristina Arbona, MD

    - Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona

    Principal Investigator, Dr. Jorge Sierra, MD

    - Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona

    Principal Investigator, Dr. Christelle Ferra, MD

    - Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia

    Principal Investigator, Dr. Guillermo Sanz, MD

The trial is assessing the safety and efficacy of StemEx as a treatment for hematological malignancies, including leukemia and lymphoma, in a single arm, global, pivotal marketing authorization trial. StemEx is a graft of expanded stem/progenitor cells, derived from a single unit of umbilical cord blood and transplanted in combination with non expanded cells from the same unit. StemEx(R) is being developed by a Joint Venture of Gamida Cell and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA).

Excel is a study that gives clinicians the opportunity to explore a new path in the pursuit of a therapeutic treatment for patients with blood cancers. Cord blood can successfully be used to treat leukemia and lymphoma in young children. It stands to reason therefore that the same basic source could also be used to effectively treat adolescents and adults. The Excel trial provides an opportunity to determine if StemEx can indeed make this a possibility.

Cord blood has less matching requiremen
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