Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

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Biotech firm puts Charleston region on stem cell map

Dec. 1, 2003
Charleston Regional Business Journal
By Dennis Quick
Message to soon-to-be-mothers: After giving birth, save the blood in your baby’s umbilical cord. The stem cells in that blood someday could save your baby’s life or the life of another family member—including you.

So advises Don DeLuca Sr., CEO of CureSource Inc., a North Charleston-based biotech company claiming to be South Carolina’s only umbilical cord blood storage bank. CureSource provides the cryogenically frozen blood to doctors so they can use the blood’s stem cells to treat patients suffering from a variety of diseases such as cancer, diabetes and stroke. The stem cells also can be used to regenerate damaged tissue.

CureSource guarantees a 19-year storage life for a newborn’s umbilical cord blood but says it’s likely the blood will last forever. Conceivably, an adult suddenly stricken with heart disease can be treated with stem cells from his or her stored cord blood, says CureSource President Don DeLuca Jr.

Since its October opening, word of CureSource has spread nationwide. The company has received medical inquiries from as far away as Texas and North Dakota, says DeLuca.

Stem cell research has received worldwide press coverage. Last year, The Straits Times of Singapore reported that physicians in Taiwan believe Taiwan’s paraplegic First Lady might walk again because they treated her with stem cells taken from her newborn grandchild’s umbilical cord blood. In August, The Washington Post reported that stem cells helped a man regain his sight. AARP magazine recently featured a story about former First Lady Nancy Reagan’s crusade to allow embryonic stem cell research to continue because doctors say stem cells might cure Alzheimer’s, a disease afflicting Ronald Reagan, the 40th president.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can divide to become other types of cells and be induced to acquire specific functions. For instance, stem cells can be developed into heart-muscle cells, insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, kidney cells and other organ cells.

That’s why experts say patients can be healed with their own stem cells. A year ago, Redbook magazine reported how doctors cured an infant stricken with a rare form of cancer by using stem cells from the baby’s stored umbilical cord blood. Also, biological family members can be treated with stem cells from a member’s cord blood without worrying about a blood-type match. Instead, three of six proteins must be matched, explains DeLuca.

Though there has been some debate over cord blood storage, most of the attention has been focused on embryonic stem cells and controversy over using federal money for stem cell research. Cord blood stem cells require a new life, while embryonic stem cells come from aborted fetuses or donated embryos.

However, in 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement saying that there is no strong evidence to recommend that cord blood be banked for an infant’s future use. The AAP said given the low odds that the blood will be used—somewhere between one in 1,000 and one in 200,000—the cost of storing the blood isn’t worth it.

The exception, according to the AAP, is for kids whose families have histories of some of the afflictions that cord blood has been found to be effective in treating, including leukemia and other forms of cancer. The AAP agrees that cord blood transplantation has been proven as successful and easier to perform than bone marrow transplant.

The potential for stem cell research is explosive, says Dr. William Schmidt, CureSource’s chief scientific officer. “We want to be the mother ship of stem cell research and push it forward.”

“CureSource is a great commercial opportunity,” says Ken Roozen, executive director of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Foundation for Research Development. “There’s going to be an increasing market for such cryogenic storage capability and I’m delighted that a company like this will call Charleston home. I certainly think there are opportunities for MUSC investigators to utilize the CureSource capabilities.”

Any company working with stem cells can have a “great” impact on health care, says Vladimir Mirinov, director of MUSC’s tissue engineering laboratory. He adds that a company like CureSource opens the door to research and clinical trial opportunities.

Dr. Kelvin Brockbank, senior vice president of Organ Recovery Systems, a Charleston company that helps preserve organs and tissues for transplantation, believes CureSource strengthens the health sciences community by supplying a service “that will become more and more important over the coming years.”

CureSource charges a $250 enrollment fee, a $700 processing and blood-banking fee, plus a $95 annual storage fee. DeLuca says CureSource’s cord blood-based services are much less expensive than obtaining stem cells from bone marrow, a procedure he claims can cost more than $40,000.

Making Contact:

For more information about CureSource and stems cells from umbilical cord blood, call 824-2720 or visit www.curesource.net.
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