Stephen Whitaker
There are numerous professors at Texas A&M University who can claim to be inventors, but few probably have invented something with the potential of the cell therapy invented by Dr. Simrit Parmar.
The cell therapy developed by Parmer could help with the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aplastic anemia, myelofibrosis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The therapy has been evaluated in dozens of human patients, and it has been shown to be safe and effective.
"I got into this research early in my career. I am a physician scientist by training," Parmar said Tuesday. "I worked on these immune regulatory cells or T regulatory cells in my lab. Accelerating to 2024, now we are treating diseases like ALS which is really heterogeneous. There are so many chaotic pathways, but we felt that if you block this inflammation injury loop it may allow for the body to reset the homeostasis and lead to the recovery of their function."
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Parmar, an associate professor at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine in Houston, has been working on cell therapy since before joining Texas A&M last year. Parmar, who came to A&M from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is also the founder of a Houston-based clinical-stage biotech company called Cellenkos Inc.
Her research has led to an agreement between Cellenkos and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre -- the leading medical center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The research center will provide major investment and partnership in a clinical trial, the first of its kind between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
"We see it as a start of a long relationship where we are coming together with their scientists and their clinical doctors who have done fantastic work over the past several years," Parmar said. "The partnership will allow us to help patients by accelerating that clinical trial process. Our main goal is how can we bridge some of these rare diseases in the United States. For example, aplastic anemia. There are only 600 patients a year in the United States diagnosed with it, but it is more endemic in Saudi Arabia. We will be able to grow on our clinical trials and perform good science. This cross collaboration is in the vision of our current government and in the vision of Texas A&M."
Parmar uses umbilical cord blood-derived T regulatory (Treg) cell therapy to treat the inflammation at the center of a number of hard to treat or untreatable illnesses. The Tregs derived from umbilical cord blood are naturally wired to resolve inflammation without becoming harmful themselves.
Parmar's innovation has three key components. One is that the therapy does not require matching an individual donor to an individual patient. Another component is that the cell therapy can be manufactured at scale. A single starting unit of umbilical cord blood can generate multiple ready-to-use products that can be frozen for up to three years and thawed later for use. The third component of the therapy is that the use of umbilical cord derived cells sidesteps the dangers posed by adult-derived Tregs. Adult-derived Tregs carry an elevated risk of further inflammation.
Parmar's cell therapy also has drawn coverage from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) which wrote two articles on Parmar's work in its peer-reviewed journal NJEM Evidence. The most recent article in April highlighted Parmar's technology in the treatment of ALS where multiple infusions led to improvements in patients' functional decline.
The university's commitment to supporting researchers and finding new solutions in health care brought Parmer to College Station.
"I was inspired by the vision of the current Chancellor, John Sharp, who is supportive of research and innovation," Parmar said. "Texas A&M is a university that has multiple disciplines and it has great talent and great depth and breadth scientifically. Both in College Station as well as in Houston I have great support."
Dr. Joe Cunningham, the chairman of the Texas A&M Council of Innovation, had a hand in getting Parmar to come on board at the College of Medicine.
Cunningham has known Parmar for many years and said her work would have a chance to grow with the support from the A&M System.
"I've known Dr. Parmar for decades, 20 years," Cunningham said. "I was very interested in her research and technology and over time as she's made these discoveries and as I became more involved in the A&M system of innovation I felt [Dr. Parmar] would have the ability to advance this research more in the A&M System."
Parmar's work also drew praise from Sharp himself in a statement.
"Dr. Parmar is working on absolutely transformational technology," Sharp said in a statement. "We're proud that she has brought her innovative skills and dedication to improving patients' lives to the Texas A&M faculty."
Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III also found time to recognize the work of Parmar in a statement from his office in which he said, "We look forward to seeing the positive impact this invention will have and we're incredibly proud of Dr. Parmar and her work in this space."
Parmar is excited to continue to work on expanding the knowledge of how to combat diseases like ALS and is hopeful that her knowledge can be shared.
"Our main goal is how can we bridge some of these rare diseases in the United States and what can we learn in terms of certain diseases," Parmar said. "Information is at the core of so many diseases. We feel what we have is truly a silver bullet because our cells are like cells 2.0. We've seen great advances and amazing improvement in patients."
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