The first clinical trial of an embryonic stem cell therapy has begun enrolling patients – or at least rejecting them.

Yesterday, Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, announced it was partering with Geron Corporation, based in Menlo Park, California, to conduct a trial using embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injury.

However, the announcement appears to have been prompted by news that a paralyzed horse-racing jockey would not be allowed to participate.

The jockey, Michael Martinez, was paralyzed from the waist down after a 16 September spill at a northern California track. His family had hoped to get him into the Geron trial [New York Daily News].

On Monday, however, the California state agency in charge of medical claims for workplace injuries refused to allow Martinez to be transferred from Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he is being treated, to the University of California San Francisco to receive a high resolution MRI to better determine the extent of his injury. Martinez’ doctors at Highland also raised questions about his eligibility for the Geron trial [San Francisco Chronicle]. Later that day, the Northwestern researcher heading the trial, Richard Fessler, determined that Martinez would not be enrolled, noting that the severity of his spinal cord injuries automatically eliminated him from eligibility [New York Daily News].

Getting the stem cell trial off the ground has been just as tumultuous. After Geron famously filed a 21,000 page application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2008, the agency put the trial on hold in May of that year. The agency then gave Geron the green light in January 2009 before delaying the trial again in August 2009. Last month, FDA gave Geron the go-ahead to start again. The Phase I trial will recruit up to 10 patients at as many as 6 other sites.

Image: Wikimedia Commons