Spinal Cord Cures in China

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"There is probably no one better qualified than [Young] is to think about doing this," says Guest. But it may be difficult to get the different participating centers, which have very different levels of expertise, to operate at the same level, he says. "This will be an alliance between some strong, well-funded centers and other centers who are struggling and under funded, so whether it will work remains to be seen," Guest says.

In addition, the network may not be able to enroll as many patients as predicted, says John Steeves, a spinal cord injury expert at the University of British Columbia. "People think a clinical trial network in China would have tremendous capacity given the population of China," he says. "However, the capacity of the health care system in China does not necessarily match the population, so the ability of a trial to attract appropriate numbers of candidates is limited by the health care system in place."

Young's network is part of broader shift in China, which over the last few years has garnered attention from the pharmaceutical industry. "The clinical trial culture is rapidly changing," says Karlberg of the University of Hong Kong. "China is moving fast into global drug development, and pharma is looking at the growing market in China."

This new interest could bring its own hurdles. The Chinese drug regulation system has evolved in response to the international attention -- the country now has strict regulations governing clinical trials and a permission process that's lengthier than in the United States.

Back in the United States, patients are already clamoring to participate in the Chinese trials. Young moderates a website for spinal cord injury patients and their families, and says the number-one question lately has been about how to participate in these trials. (The website also has a section where people who've gone overseas for experimental treatments chronicle their experiences, both good and bad.)

Young says that U.S. patients will be eligible for the trials. However, they will need to travel to China for the surgery and be available for follow-up exams at six weeks, six months, and a year after the treatment. While they will not have to pay for the procedure, they would need to pay for any care beyond that given to Chinese patients, says Young. As he explains, hospital care is different in China than in the United States, with Chinese families rather than nurses often caring for patients in the wards.

And what about patients eager to find out if Hongyun Huang's controversial treatment really works? Young says the network does not yet have plans to test the cell transplant therapy used by his former student.

Home page image courtesy of Rutgers University. Wise Young, a spinal cord injury expert at the university.