Back Pain & Disc Degeneration and Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC): what the trial registry contains
The ClinicalTrials.gov registry holds 20 records for MSC in Back Pain & Disc Degeneration: 1 recruiting now, 1 labelled Phase 3 or 4, across 9 countries. Snapshot 2026-08-29.
Why this is studied in Back Pain & Disc Degeneration
Degenerative disc disease is the usual registry target: dehydrated discs, annular tears and facet loading. Injected cells are proposed to restore disc matrix or damp inflammatory pain signalling. The complication is that imaging findings correlate poorly with pain, so a treatment can change the disc without changing the symptom, and vice versa.
What MSC means in this table
Mesenchymal stromal cells are the workhorse of commercial cell therapy: easy to source from fat, cord or marrow, easy to expand, and rarely characterised in the same way twice. Their proposed action is paracrine — signalling molecules that damp inflammation — rather than replacement of lost tissue. That matters when reading counts like these, because two studies filed under the same label can test materially different products at different doses by different routes.
The numbers
Every figure below comes from one reproducible query (degenerative disc disease x mesenchymal stem cell) run against ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 on 2026-08-29.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Registered studies (all statuses) | 20 |
| Interventional studies in the sample | 15 |
| Recruiting right now | 1 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Terminated, withdrawn or suspended | 5 |
| Phase 3 or Phase 4 records | 1 |
| Countries with at least one site | 9 |
| Median planned enrolment | 20 participants |
| Largest single planned enrolment | 404 participants |
| First / most recent start year | 2010 — 2026 |
How mature is this evidence?
Only 1 of 20 registrations reached a confirmatory phase label, so most of what a clinic can cite is exploratory work by design.
Completion status: 5 completed, 5 stopped early (25% of all records). A registration is a plan, not a result.
| Phase label | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Not applicable | 8 | 33% |
| Phase 2 | 8 | 33% |
| Phase 1 | 6 | 25% |
| Early Phase 1 | 1 | 4% |
| Phase 3 | 1 | 4% |
Median planned enrolment is 20 participants (largest single study: 404). Trials of this size can describe safety and generate hypotheses; detecting a modest clinical benefit reliably usually needs substantially larger numbers with a control group.
Where the studies are
Research is not evenly spread: United States carries about 25% of the country mentions among 9 countries with sites.
| Country | Studies with a site there |
|---|---|
| United States | 5 |
| South Korea | 3 |
| Italy | 3 |
| China | 2 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Taiwan | 1 |
| Indonesia | 1 |
| Slovakia | 1 |
Legal pathway differs by country — see where cell therapy is legal, by country.
Who runs them
Sponsorship leans commercial: 3 of the most frequent lead sponsors read as academic or hospital entities and 8 as companies. Who pays shapes what gets measured and what gets published.
- Red de Terapia Celular — 3 records
- Inbo Han — 2 records
- Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico — 2 records
- Mesoblast, Ltd. — 2 records
- The Foundation for Spinal Research, Education and Humanitarian Care, Inc. — 1 record
- Creative Medical Technology Holdings Inc — 1 record
Representative registered studies
Recruiting studies first, then the most advanced phases. Each identifier links to the registry record, where eligibility criteria, outcome measures and contacts are published.
| Study | Phase | Status | Planned n | Lead sponsor | Start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCT05066334 — Efficacy of Intradiscal Injection of Autologous BM-MSC in Subjects With Chronic LBP Due to Multilevel Lumbar IDD | Phase 2 | Recruiting | 52 | Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico | 2021-03-22 |
| NCT02412735 — Placebo-controlled Study to Evaluate Rexlemestrocel-L Alone or Combined With Hyaluronic Acid in Participants With Chronic Low Back Pain | Phase 3 | Completed | 404 | Mesoblast, Ltd. | 2015-03-06 |
| NCT05011474 — Safety and Efficacy Study of Matrilin-3 Pretreated Autologous Adipose Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Implantation in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients Wi | Phase 1, Phase 2 | Unknown | 4 | Inbo Han | 2021-04-23 |
| NCT04759105 — Efficacy of Intradiscal Injection of Autologous BM-MSC in Worker Patients Affected by Chronic LBP Due to Multilevel IDD | Phase 2 | Completed | 48 | Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico | 2019-11-03 |
| NCT04499105 — Effectiveness and Safety of Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) Implantation on Degenerative Discus Disease Patients | Phase 2 | Unknown | 10 | Ahmad Jabir Rahyussalim | 2017-07-24 |
| NCT01860417 — Treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease With Allogenic Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSV) | Phase 1, Phase 2 | Completed | 24 | Red de Terapia Celular | 2013-06-21 |
| NCT02440074 — Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease Treatment With Bone Marrow Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSV) | Phase 1, Phase 2 | Withdrawn | n/a | Red de Terapia Celular | 2011-06 |
| NCT01290367 — Safety and Preliminary Efficacy Study of Mesenchymal Precursor Cells (MPCs) in Subjects With Lumbar Back Pain | Phase 2 | Completed | 100 | Mesoblast, Ltd. | 2011-08 |
| NCT01513694 — Clinical Trial Based on the Use of Mesenchymal Stem Cells From Autologous Bone Marrow in Patients With Lumbar Intervertebral Degenerative Disc Disease | Phase 1, Phase 2 | Completed | 15 | Red de Terapia Celular | 2010-01 |
| NCT06589271 — SCLife®-LDD hUC-MSCs Injection Therapy for Patients With Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration | Phase 1 | Suspended | 20 | Sclnow Biotechnology Co., Ltd. | 2026-12-31 |
What this page does and does not tell you
None of these numbers say the therapy works. They say how much organised research exists and how far along it is; effect sizes live in published results, not registry entries.
If a clinic offers you this today, the useful question is not "is there research?" but "which of these registered studies is mine part of, and if none, what evidence applies to the exact product I am being sold?" The Provider Question Builder turns that into a scored checklist.
Frequently asked
How many MSC studies for Back Pain & Disc Degeneration are recruiting right now?
1 of 20 registered records were listed as recruiting in the 2026-08-29 snapshot. Recruitment status changes frequently; the registry record is authoritative.
Is MSC an approved treatment for Back Pain & Disc Degeneration?
Registration on ClinicalTrials.gov is not approval. Approval is granted by a regulator for a specific product and indication after review of submitted evidence. 20 registered studies tell you research exists, not that a product cleared review.
How advanced is the research on MSC for Back Pain & Disc Degeneration?
1 of 20 records carry a Phase 3 or Phase 4 label and 5 are marked completed. Registrations run from 2010 to 2026.
Registry and literature counts retrieved 2026-08-29 (ClinicalTrials.gov API v2; PubMed E-utilities). Registration or publication volume measures research activity, not effectiveness or approval. Educational information — not medical advice; verify product, indication, legal pathway and evidence with an independent qualified physician. Page generated 2026-08-29. See our editorial standards.
More on this condition
- Back Pain & Disc Degeneration: cell-therapy evidence and registered trials
- How much does stem cell therapy for Back Pain & Disc Degeneration cost? (2026)
- Back Pain & Disc Degeneration stem cell therapy — your questions answered (2026)
- Back Pain & Disc Degeneration: cell-therapy evidence by therapy class
Download the query data
Query totals are full API matches; status, phase and country counts describe the first up to 400 returned records per query. Query classes overlap and must not be summed as unique trials. Counts are not treatment outcomes. Snapshot: 2026-08-29. Methods and field definitions.