In Scotland a patient will be the first of 12 men disabled by strokes plans to have hole drilled in the patient’s skull, a needle inserted and injection of 2 million stem cells from ReNeuron into his brain early next year. The studiy will last for two years to see if the cells help the brain repair damage, without causing further harm. ReNeuron won U.K. government approval in January to test its ReN001 stem-cell line after three failures to get permission from U.S. regulators. The study is key to determine if England-based ReNeuron can continue developing the treatment and may also determine the viability of the company, whose market value is 19.9 million pounds ($32 million).

Other  experts in teh field (e.g. chief executive officer of BioTime Inc., a biotechnology company in California) have highlighted the risk of such trials in recent interviews.

ReNeuron shares have more than doubled in 12 months. In part due to the fact that there aren’t any treatments to reverse the disability caused by strokes - an area with a possible market $3 billion.