A WORLD-first Australian medical therapy that uses stem cells to treat degenerative spinal disease has been approved for testing on patients in the US. Researchers hope the treatment will replace painful bone grafts. A Melbourne-based biotechnology company said it had won approval from the US Government for the major trial. Its preliminary animal trials were so promising the US Food and Drug Administration allowed it to skip the small phase-one human safety trial and move straight into a larger phase-two trial. It will be the first time that “off-the-shelf” adult stem cells will be used to treat spinal disc disease...