Exclusive: "Ending Disease" Documentary Explores How Stem Cell Therapy Aims to Cure the Incurable – Prevention.com

Ending Disease, a forthcoming documentary directed by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Joe Gantz, explores the controversial world of stem cell researchand why it's on the frontlines of combatting incurable disease.

The four-part series follows 10 patients who suffer from debilitating illnesses including paralysis, blindness, and terminal cancer. Each patient participated in the first FDA-approved clinical trials using stem cell and CAR T-cell therapy to treat conditions that were previously deemed incurable.

Stem cells are cells with the ability to develop into other cells, allowing them to repair damaged areas of the body. Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, involves using these cells to heal diseased, injured, or dysfunctional tissue. CAR T-cell therapy, on the other hand, is a form of immunotherapy in which a patient's T cells are collected from the blood and modified into chimeric antigen receptors (CARs).

In this exclusive Ending Disease trailer, a high school senior becomes paralyzed after suffering a neck injury during a basketball game. His parents view stem cell therapy as their son's only option to recovery:

Another woman learns that her cancer has returned, after an MRI shows lesions on her breast and lungs. "It seemed like it was a death sentence," she says in the video, and then she begins the process of CAR T-cell therapy.

"I became legally blind when I was 26; this could potentially restore my vision," a second woman shares of the revolutionary clinical trial.

Later, the documentary shows the teenage boy regaining his strength in a wheelchair, while the formerly blind woman goes rock climbing. The woman with cancer is seen playing soccer with young children.

"We have in our own bodies the cells that know how to regenerate our own bodies, so this is a real medical revolution," a healthcare worker says.

The documentary promises to be an exciting look at an ambitious clinical trial that aims to change lives for the better. Ending Disease is set to release on Friday, November 13.

You can catch a virtual screening by purchasing tickets at one of the following local participating cinemas: Gathr Films, Laemmle Virtual Cinema (Los Angeles, C.A.), The Lark (Marin County, C.A.), Tampa Theater (Tampa, F.L.), Grail Movie House (Asheville, N.C.), Cinema Art Theater (Lewes, D.E.), Real Art Ways (Hartford, C.T.), The Neon (Dayton, O.H.), Oxford Film Society (Oxford, M.S.).

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Exclusive: "Ending Disease" Documentary Explores How Stem Cell Therapy Aims to Cure the Incurable - Prevention.com