Spinal Cord Injury, California Stem Cell Millions and a Patient's Story

Lineage Cell Therapeutics is carrying the research forward

Jake Javier discusses his injury, stem cell treatment and progress after being involved in a CIRM-supported clinical trial. Lineage Cell Therapeutics video. 

California’s stem cell agency caught up last week with a young man who was involved in a clinical trial for a stem cell therapy for a grievous spinal cord injury and who is now a testament, the agency says, to “the power of medical innovation and personal resilience.” 

He is Jake Javier, who was treated in 2016 with 10 million stem cells in a trial by Asterias Therapeutics (formerly Geron) that was backed by $14.3 million from the California stem cell agency. Lineage Cell Therapeutics now has the stem cell therapy.

Javier was paralyzed from the chest down as the result of a swimming pool accident in June on the eve of his high school graduation.

“Today, Jake is not just surviving—he’s thriving,” wrote Katie Sharify on Aug. 19 in an article on the blog of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the stem cell agency is officially known.