Stem cell harvesting business banks on future technology

Fargo clinic offers cell harvesting for disease treatment potential

BY KRIS BEVILL

Eternity Medicine Institute in Fargo recently added adult stem cell harvesting services to its list of services, allowing clients to bank stem cells for potential health treatment applications. PHOTO: ETERNITY

MEDICINE INSTITUTE

The fear of aging and all of its consequences, from wrinkles to heart disease, has born a huge industry for companies schlepping products of varying degrees of effectiveness. Unfortunately, until the proverbial fountain of youth is discovered and marketed to the masses, aging continues to reign as an unstoppable outcome of life. Fortunately, technology has enabled the potential to make the aging process at least more healthful, and forward-thinking businesses are ready to provide those cutting-edge services to an eager and aging public.

One of them, CelBank, recently expanded its services to Fargo. Owned by Maryland-based biotechnology firm Next Healthcare Inc., CelBank specializes in storing adult stem and skin cells for use in future stem cell therapies to treat age-related diseases.

Vin Singh, founder and CEO of Next Healthcare, has more than a decade of experience in the stem cell industry and says he was inspired to launch the company after learning of a technology developed in Japan several years ago that enables skin cells to be converted to stem cells. “That was the spark for me,” he says. “I said, wow, that is the Holy Grail of regenerative medicine. If you can take a skin sample and make heart cells and treat some-

(continued from page 40) one who just had a heart attack – that’s a big deal.” Knowing that the actual therapies to use that technology would take years to come to market, however, Singh set out to develop a method for consumers to take advantage of future technological developments ahead of time. “That’s where the idea came from,” he says. “Bank the cells now, so that you have this healthy archive of seed material that can be tapped into later if you need to.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved any adult stem cell therapies, but thousands of stem cell trials are being conducted worldwide and about 50 U.S. trials are in the final testing phase, Singh says. He expects up to 30 percent of those therapies to become commercially available over the next few years, with likely applications being treatments for diseases including cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease and cell replacement therapy for cancer patients. He says ideal candidates for cell banking range in age from 35 to 55 because they have healthy cells and are most likely to be in need of cell banking therapies when the technology is fully developed. “We think the next 25 years is the sweet spot for stem cell therapies,” Singh says. “Past that point there will probably be some other technology, like nanotechnology.”

Last fall, Eternity Medicine Institute, an age management clinic, signed on to be the exclusive provider of CelBank services in the Fargo area. Singh says that while the Fargo market is smaller than CelBank’s other locations, which include major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Los Angeles and Denver, he believes there is enough demand for anti-aging processes in this region to warrant the location.

Dr. Joel Schock, medical director at Eternity Medical Institute, says CelBank’s services were a natural fit for the age management clinic, which focuses on helping people live life more energetically and actively as they age. “People who are doing age management are interested in their health above and beyond the average person and are willing to go to where the cutting-edge technologies and techniques are, and are not interested in letting some of the degenerative processes of aging slow them down,” he says. “Cell banking offers, I think, the greatest promise in that area over the long run.”

Eternity Medical Institute clients have so far been “fascinated” by the idea of cell banking, Schock says. One of the institute’s first cell banking clients did so as a preemptive strike against a family history of bone marrow disease, he says. Another client opted for the procedure simply for the peace of mind of knowing the cells would be available if needed. Most of the clinic’s customers are still evaluating whether the financial commitment for the out-of-pocket service, which costs about $3,500 for the initial cell harvest procedure plus annual storage fees, is worth the investment.

CelBank stores its customers’ samples at its state-of-theart, federally approved cell processing and storage center in Grand Forks, N.D. Singh says the company chose to locate its storage facility in Grand Forks because it meets the company’s criteria of being centrally located, relatively immune to natural disasters and more affordable than locations near the company’s Washington, D.C.-area headquarters. Additionally, Singh says Grand Forks offers access to bioscience talent at the University of North Dakota’s medical school and has a topnotch facility with room to expand as the company’s business grows. “We found a diamond in the rough in Grand Forks because it really fit all of our needs,” he says.

While it is hard to predict a timeline for FDA approvals, other countries including Canada already allow adult stem cells to be used in certain treatments and Singh believes his company is well-positioned to play a significant role in the new era of medicine worldwide. “We are the first to market in the service that we’re offering,” he says. “There are a handful of companies that do similar things, but nobody’s doing exactly what we’re doing. PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com