NeuroScientific specialist hire sets stage for major Crohn’s trial

NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals chief executive officer Nathan Smith said: “We are delighted to appoint Southern Star Research to deliver StemSmart to patients suffering from treatment-resistant Crohn’s disease. Southern Star Research’s capabilities are a strong fit for our program as we progress towards clinical site start-up and engagement with principal investigators.”

The company’s confidence to push into a major phase two study is underpinned by highly encouraging results from a previous Special Access Program (SAP) trial in fistulising Crohn’s. Importantly, all five patients in that study showed improvement following treatment, with no serious adverse events recorded, a strong outcome in a group typically resistant to conventional therapies.

The focus on Crohn’s disease represents a significant strategic pivot for NeuroScientific, which spent years developing its “EmtinB” peptide for neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, after acquiring the StemSmart technology platform in mid-2025, the company rapidly reoriented its focus.

The clinical need for new treatments for difficult-to-treat patient subsets remains high, a fact underscored by recent positive results from Johnson & Johnson in perianal fistulising Crohn’s disease, highlighting the considerable big-pharma firepower now being trained on the toughest end of the Crohn’s treatment spectrum.

With promising early data from its SAP trial, a clear regulatory pathway being forged with the FDA, and now a leading CRO on board, NeuroScientific appears to be ticking all the right boxes as it advances its StemSmart technology towards a pivotal international trial.

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