Hope vs. Hype
Not All Stem Cells Are Created Equal
When it comes to stem cells, not all are created equal. Though it is true that stem cells have a remarkable ability to regenerate and repair damaged cells in our bodies, there are limitations and variations on potential, depending on the type of cell and the culture process used. In a crowded marketplace of hopeful promise and unverified hype, it’s important to know why some of the claims fall short while others give a clearer sign of things to come.
Why Hope
The stem cells we use and the stem cell culture process we follow at Hope Biosciences is really what sets us apart from the rest. The fundamental difference between us and the rest of the stem cell banking industry is that we do not bank anything other than pure Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). Many of the “stem cell banking” services available today do not actually bank pure stem cells, rather, they bank the source of the stem cells, most often cord blood or placental tissues. Our process involves isolating the stem cells from the tissue source, culturing them, and then banking only pure stem cells.
We realized when we first began envisioning what the future of medicine was going to look like, that we needed to put our trust in a type of stem cell that could yield results across a myriad of disease indications. Stem cells sourced from bone marrow, named Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs), have great potential to address blood related disorders such as Leukemia, but haven’t been proven effective in the treatment of neurological and autoimmune disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Multiple Sclerosis the way that MSCs have. So, for us, the choice to bank MSCs was clear.
Our process is also unique in that banked cells are never simply thawed and used in treatments; each and every treatment manufactured here at Hope contains freshly cultured MSCs. We have created a process that has afforded our clients access to hundreds of millions of fresh cells. By creating a Master Cell Bank from 1 tablespoon of fat, we can generate over 1,000 treatments from that single bank. The cells we use in all of our clinical trial therapies are never frozen - they are grown fresh and on demand.
Debunking the Hype
With all the hype currently surrounding the stem cell industry, it’s often difficult to differentiate between factual, trustworthy information and the false claims made by unscrupulous clinics. The general public is often presented with stem cells as a miraculous cure-all which leads to many people seeking out stem cell treatments that may be unsafe. Countless clinics have popped up in the US offering stem cell treatments and therapies for every condition imaginable while generally offering no transparency into the type of cell used or the process used to generate the treatment.
All of us at Hope Biosciences believe in the potential of stem cells and we plan to prove it through safe and honest innovation. The only treatments we administer are actively studied under an Investigational New Drug Application through the FDA. We are engaged in several FDA cleared clinical trials in hopes of acquiring enough data to prove long term success through repeated treatments.
Evolution Through Innovation
The path to where we are now as an industry has been long and somewhat winding. In the early days of stem cell research and development, there were many ethical concerns surrounding the science and sourcing of cells. But today, we have been able to transcend beyond those concerns and focus instead on doing the work necessary for the people looking for more effective solutions to the debilitating diseases disrupting their lives. We are working to prove that athletes who suffer brain injury can recover, or that Alzheimer’s patients won’t have to live in fear, or that there are better options for treating Rheumatoid Arthritis. Our principal goal at Hope Biosciences is to make stem cell therapy a reality for everyone. With Hope, that’s a promise; not hype.
