IRVINE, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CalbaTech, Inc. , an emerging life sciences company (http://www.CalbaTech.com) concentrating on providing products and services to the research market for biotech and pharmaceutical companies and to academic institutions, today said that significant progress is being made to use stem cells to treat patients with defective hearts and this supports the business plan of its wholly-owned subsidiary, LifeStem, Inc. LifeStem has developed the Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service for the collection of healthy adult stem cells for storage for potential future therapeutic use.
CalbaTech’s CEO James DeOlden cited a number of studies to supplement the belief that stem cells will play a key role in the treatment of heart disease in the future. “Scripps Clinic in California is doing a study harvesting stem cells from a patient with severe heart disease and injecting a refined version back into the heart muscle, to see if stem cells will teach the heart how to grow new blood vessels and restore the blood flow,” Mr. DeOlden said, according to published reports. “An interventional cardiologist involved in the study told the NBC ‘Today’ Show that, in some cases, patients had complete relief of symptoms where previously nothing worked at all.”
At the University of Minnesota, researchers are working to regenerate functional heart muscle mass to replace damaged tissue through the use of stem cells, the media has reported. “Cardiovascular disease impacts more than 61 million Americans and is the number one cause of death in our country. What is especially interesting about the Minnesota research,” CalbaTech’s CEO said, “is that if this works, the principle could possibly be applied to diseases of the nervous system.”
Dr. Robert Kloner of the University of Southern California, writing in the most current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, said reversing heart disease by growing new heart muscle with stem cells is a “relatively new and exciting concept” that has led to “tremendous enthusiasm” in medicine. Even though the technology is in its infancy, already 16 centers in the U.S. are involved in separate stem cell studies.
The most famous “cure” up to this time occurred in Thailand, where the legendary Hawaiian singer Don Ho, who could barely walk, let alone sing, received a successful experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart. “I was a ‘goner’ without the procedure,” Mr. Ho told the media.
“Stem cell biology represents a new medical frontier,” Mr. DeOlden said. “Regeneration has proven successful in animal models and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a clinical trial at the Texas Heart Institute for a stem cell therapy for severe heart failure that had proven to be very effective in Brazil. Another study is being undertaken at the Cooper Heart Institute in New Jersey that could vastly change the future of cardiac medicine. We are delighted that our subsidiary, LifeStem, is working to make its Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) Service the most available and acceptable two tissue adult stem cell banking service in the United States. We believe this will allow individuals to bank their healthy stem cells for a time when these advances become main stream therapeutics.”
About LifeStem
LifeStem, a wholly owned subsidiary of CalbaTech, is positioning itself to become a leading supplier of “Cellular Logistics.” The Company’s focus is to provide services and technologies to facilitate the efficient acquisition and delivery of adult stem cells, development of stem cell delivery devices for clinical applications and clinical applications of specific stem cell based therapies. LifeStem, in addition to being the first company to offer micro collection of stem cells, is also the first company to offer a collection service that collects and stores two different types of stem cells. The Company has filed patent applications for an endoscopic stem cell delivery device and its novel Stem Cell MicroBank(TM) service.
About CalbaTech
CalbaTech, Inc. is an emerging life sciences company (http://www.CalbaTech.com) concentrating on providing products and platforms to the research market for biotech and pharmaceutical companies and to academic institutions.
Contact: Paul Knopick E&E Communications (949) 707-5365 pknopick@eandecommunications.com
Note: Certain statements in this news release may contain “forward looking” information within the meaning of rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
CalbaTech, Inc.
CONTACT: Paul Knopick of E&E Communications, +1-949-707-5365,pknopick@eandecommunications.com, for CalbaTech, Inc.
Web site: http://www.CalbaTech.com/
