
Can a cell therapy treat muscular dystrophy? A German billionaire's anti-aging startup is trying to find out
Gene therapy companies have faced huge hurdles trying to deliver healthy genes into muscular dystrophy patients’ muscle cells, so here’s an idea: Why don’t we just replace the muscle cells themselves?
Over the last two years, Vita Therapeutics has been exploring that possibility, building on early stem cell work from Johns Hopkins professors Gabsang Lee and Kathryn Wagner. And on Tuesday they announced a $32 million Series A to begin to move their first therapy into the clinic, where they hope it will help rebuild muscle in patients with a type of dystrophy that afflicts the arms and legs.
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