What will likely become the world?s first approved stem cell cure for life-threatening disease is incubating in the Baltimore labs of Osiris Therapeutics Inc.

Osiris announced Thursday that it has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to begin an expanded treatment program for Prochymal. The approval will make the investigational stem cell product available to children with life-threatening graft vs. host disease, or GvHD, in which immune cells in transplanted marrow attack other cells.