Apollo Hospitals set up stem cell facility

Apollo Hospitals set up stem cell facility

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., is focusing on stem cell therapy. The company, tied up with US based StemCyte today and would together invest $15 million to set up a stem cell facility besides conducting research development activities at its Hyderabad centre.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., is focusing on stem cell therapy. The company, tied up with US based StemCyte today and would together invest $15 million to set up a stem cell facility besides conducting research development activities at its Hyderabad centre.

Stem cells can be sourced from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow and are used in medical therapies. They can be grown and transformed into specialized cells for future therapies.

“The idea is to undertake intensive research and provide personalised medicine in future for patients. It’s a 50:50 joint venture and will carry out research in several areas including chronic stroke, spinal cord injury and muscular dystrophy,” said Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group.

The upcoming facility, which will focus on stem cell culturing, trials and research, will be the fourth such unit for StemCyte. It currently has three facilities, one each in the US, Hong Kong and South Korea. Apollo also said it has also tied up with Quintiles to start clinical trials unit at Apollo Health City in Hyderabad. It had earlier announced $10 million investment in this venture. The company is waiting for regulatory approvals to conduct first in human (FIH) studies.