MRI Interventions, Inc. (OTCQB: MRIC)

Here’s another release that came out during the trading day this morning: MRI Interventions’ ClearPoint System Enables Precise Delivery of Promising Investigational Gene Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease Phase I Clinical Trial

Share responded immediately and are up four cents at $1.19.  Volume is light, but there is a momentum on the buy side today.

Here is more from that release:

MRI Interventions, Inc. (OTCQB: MRIC) today announced treatment of the first patient in a Phase I clinical trial utilizing uniQure B.V.’s glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This gene therapy holds promise in the battle against the degenerative and debilitating disorder, which affects 1.5 million people in the United States. MRI Interventions’ ClearPoint Neuro Intervention System is being used in the clinical trial to enable direct infusion of the gene therapy into an area of the brain affected by Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Krystof Bankiewicz, MD, PhD at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Dr. John D. Heiss, MD at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are leading the trial. uniQure B.V., a leader in human gene therapy, is providing the GDNF gene. uniQure made headlines last November by receiving regulatory approval in Europe of a first-in-class gene therapy to treat orphan diseases.

The hypothesis of the Parkinson’s disease trial is that GDNF’s neuro-regenerative and protective properties may protect and strengthen brain cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that affects brain function. In Parkinson’s disease, dopamine production is reduced in an area of the brain responsible for movement, which leads to the debilitating symptoms experienced by many patients with the disease. The affected area is a tiny spot located deep within the brain, and the ClearPoint System provides the visualization and precision necessary to deliver a desired amount of the gene therapy directly to this very small target without disrupting other critical neurological structures in the process.