Bladder-builder welcomes windpipe

It's a big day in the consumer media, abuzz with the news that doctors linkurl:engineered a windpipe;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ for a 30-year-old woman using her own stem cells, but at the offices of linkurl:Tengion,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ a Pennsylvania biotech currently building bladders using patient cells, it's just business as usual. This news "confirms what we know," said Gary Sender, chief financial officer at Tengion. "We know we are in

Written byAlison McCook
| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share
It's a big day in the consumer media, abuzz with the news that doctors linkurl:engineered a windpipe;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ for a 30-year-old woman using her own stem cells, but at the offices of linkurl:Tengion,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ a Pennsylvania biotech currently building bladders using patient cells, it's just business as usual. This news "confirms what we know," said Gary Sender, chief financial officer at Tengion. "We know we are in an emerging field." Still, Sender added that any good news from the field of regenerative medicine is "very positive for Tengion." And for patients. "You and I as just citizens should be thrilled that there are advances in this technology," he said. "We think the more progress that's made in this field, the better." Just today (Nov 19), Tengion linkurl:announced;http://www.tengion.com/news/press/20081119.cfm that it completed a second closing of its Series C financing, receiving $21 million in additional equity. The company also recently wrapped up its phase 2 trial, consisting of 10 children with spina bifida, and plans to start a phase 3 sometime next year. (The company is not yet disclosing any data from the phase 2 trial.) The company is also moving forward with its plan to build bladders for patients with bladder cancer, a somewhat trickier procedure because of the risk that the patient's cancer cells could end up in the new organ. Sender said the company hopes to fill out an investigational new drug (IND) application early next year, and begin a clinical trial soon thereafter. When linkurl:I visited;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/daily/53878/ the company's main 2800 square-meter manufacturing facility last year, the labs were largely empty, but slowly filling with the state-of-the-art equipment needed to ramp up to a phase 3 trial. The facility is now set to go, Sender said. "We're ready to roll with the phase 3" trial.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Share
Image of a woman with her hands across her stomach. She has a look of discomfort on her face. There is a blown up image of her stomach next to her and it has colorful butterflies and gut bacteria all swarming within the gut.
November 2025, Issue 1

Why Do We Feel Butterflies in the Stomach?

These fluttering sensations are the brain’s reaction to certain emotions, which can be amplified or soothed by the gut’s own “bugs".

View this Issue
Olga Anczukow and Ryan Englander discuss how transcriptome splicing affects immune system function in lung cancer.

Long-Read RNA Sequencing Reveals a Regulatory Role for Splicing in Immunotherapy Responses

Pacific Biosciences logo
Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Research Roundtable: The Evolving World of Spatial Biology

Conceptual cartoon image of gene editing technology

Exploring the State of the Art in Gene Editing Techniques

Bio-Rad
Conceptual image of a doctor holding a brain puzzle, representing Alzheimer's disease diagnosis.

Simplifying Early Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis with Blood Testing

fujirebio logo

Products

Eppendorf Logo

Research on rewiring neural circuit in fruit flies wins 2025 Eppendorf & Science Prize

Evident Logo

EVIDENT's New FLUOVIEW FV5000 Redefines the Boundaries of Confocal and Multiphoton Imaging

Evident Logo

EVIDENT Launches Sixth Annual Image of the Year Contest

10x Genomics Logo

10x Genomics Launches the Next Generation of Chromium Flex to Empower Scientists to Massively Scale Single Cell Research