A nine-year-old girl enrolled in a stem cell therapy trial has died, according to the company running the trial, StemCells, Inc. An independent committee ruled that the death was not caused by the stem cell treatment.

The girl was one of six children being treated for a neurodegenerative disorder -- called Batten Disease -- with transplants of neural stem cells derived from fetal tissue. Nature's stem cell blog The Niche reported the death on Sunday (January 20). According to a company press release the girl had been admitted to the hospital two weeks ago with seizures, viral infection, and respiratory distress.

The principle investigators at Oregon Health and Science University, who were running the trial, also said that the death was not caused by the stem cell treatment, but by the disease. The trial is continuing, and is one of many ongoing trials using stem cell therapy.