"Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc said initial data from a small study showed that its lead stem cell therapy could improve mobility in patients paralyzed by a spinal cord injury.  Traders gather at the post that trades Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc. on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March  . REUTERSBrendan McDermid  The companys shares were up  percent at . in midday trading on heavy volumes.  Shares of BioTime Inc a company that owns nearly  percent of Asterias were little changed at ..  The therapy AST OPC is the first product derived from human embryos to be tested on humans.  Its success is a key step toward proving that embryonic stem cell research could cure diseases such as cancer Parkinsons and serious health conditions such immune deficiencies stroke and spinal injuries.  Data showed that the severity of the spinal injury was reduced in the first patient and two other patients were able to resume their rehabilitation programs soon after being injected with the stem cells.  The early study tested the benefits of a smaller dose of  million stem cells that are tuned to develop into nerves.  Asterias bought OPC in  from the erstwhile stem cell research leader Geron Corp which decided to focus on developing cancer drugs.  Geron chose to abandon its stem cell therapy in  after such research got embroiled in the abortion debate prompting many biotech companies to stay quiet about their research.  Mondays announcement was the first about the therapy in more than two years.  In an earlystage study conducted by Geron the therapy showed potential in repairing spinal injury in four of the five patients tested without any adverse events.  Asterias is looking to show recovery of mobility in four out of every  patients treated with OPC compared with two out of  achieving the same level of improvement without any treatment Chief Executive Pedro Lichtinger told Reuters in early August.  Menlo Park Californiabased Asterias expects to release complete safety data from the first half of the study later in the year.  Lichtinger said he was confident the data would be positive but was not expecting miracles.  It is important to know that we do not expect patients to get up and play basketball he said. But we do expect the patients to have significant improvements in mobility.  Nearly  Asteriass shares were traded by  p.m. ET or more than twice their day average trading volume.  Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila Our StandardsThe Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. httpthomsonreuters.comenaboutustrustprinciples.html"