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Biotech / Medical : Stem Cell Research -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SnowShredder who wrote (243)	1/22/2007 3:57:12 AM
From: SnowShredder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 495

Fat stem cells with horses... signonsandiego.com Best of Luck, SS >>> Q&A: Robert Harman; CEO, Vet-Stem UNION-TRIBUNE January 21, 2007 When the subject is stem cells, one usually thinks of embryonic stem cells and the nationwide debate over the ethics of their use. But embryos are just one of several sources of stem cells in living tissue. Poway-based Vet-Stem, with 20 employees, has enjoyed success since 2003 with perhaps the least controversial source of stem cells: horse fat. And Vet-Stem CEO Robert Harman, 52, says the benefits from fat-based stem cells in animals and humans promise to be revolutionary in the coming decades. Tell us about Vet-Stem. Who are you, and what do you do? We are the first veterinary stem cell regenerative company in the U.S. We take stem cells from a horse's own fat and use it to regenerate injured tendons and ligaments. Our customers are veterinarians for world-class athletic horses – horses that compete in Olympic equestrian events, jumpers, racing quarter horses and thoroughbreds. How successful has the therapy been? With our treatment, between 70 (percent) and 75 percent of horses that sustained tendon or ligament injuries return to their previous athletic level. And another 15 percent recover from the injuries but are not able to perform at their previous level. So business has been good so far? We have done over 2,000 horses in 35 states and Canada since 2003. People are still arguing over whether stem cells actually work. Well, we've done 2,000 animals – they work. We have doubled our revenue every year since we started; we will probably do $3 million this year. How does your process work? Fat-derived stem cells are general purpose healing cells that repair a variety of tissues, from tendons in legs to heart or liver tissue. And they are relatively easy and inexpensive to extract. A vet will send us fatty tissue from the injured horse. We will extract the stem cells and put them in a syringe and then send the package back to the vet. The vet simply injects the cells into the injured area. It seems very straightforward; am I missing something? If you hand me a sample of fat at my headquarters in Poway, I can turn around and give you stem cells within four hours. The complexity is in what the cells do. You say you are the first company of your kind in the United States. Do you foresee this becoming a competitive market? We own the worldwide rights for stem cells in fat for anything veterinary, which puts us in a unique position in the veterinary community. We have at least a three-year lead on any competition. We have the opportunity to be the leader in veterinary regenerative medicine for a long time to come. How did you end up in this business? I earned a veterinary degree, and a master's in preventative veterinary medicine in 1982 from UC Davis. Then I practiced as a veterinarian in San Diego and Riverside for three years. From 1985 to 1999, I ran HTI Bio-Services, a company that researched the technologies being developed by biotech companies and helped bring them to market. After I sold the company in 2000, a former client told me about researchers at the University of Pittsburgh who had found regenerative stem cells in fat. It turned out to be good timing for us. These days there is not a person on the planet who doesn't have some concept of what a stem cell is. So how long until these stem cells are used to treat humans? They are already doing it in Europe. In the U.S. we are looking at three or four years before fat-derived stem cells are available for humans. It's hugely important technology. It's not magic, but the tool is the most powerful tool you can imagine.