Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
treatment of tendon and ligament injuries in racehorses using
haematopoietic stem cells (
http://www.randwickequine.com.au
).
UK-based company VetCell (
http://www.vetcell.com
) is reported to
have shown that this form of treatment is 50 per cent more effective
than other treatments on tendon injuries in horses (Singer, 2009). On
their website VetCell cite statistics for racehorses they have treated
with stem cell therapies, including figures reflecting the absolute
numbers of horses treated, the numbers that have returned to racing,
and the number of races that horses treated by VetCell have
subsequently won (
http://www.vetcell.com
).
US-based Vet-Stem (
http://www.vetstem.com
) has developed
adipose-derived stem cell therapies for veterinary applications and
offer stem cell therapy for horses, dogs and cats. The Vet-Stem
technique uses stem cells derived from fat tissue collected from the
animal being treated. Local veterinarians collect the tissue sample
and send it to Vet-Stem for processing. Data on the Vet-Stem website
indicates 80 per cent efficacy for treated animals with claims to have
treated more than 2000 horses since 2003 (
http://www.vetstem.
com
). A clinical study conducted in partnership with Vet-Stem
indicates that for tendon injury in thoroughbred horses, the
fat-derived stem cell treatment shows improved healing and recovery
over other treatment methods (Nixon et al., 2008). Australian-based
Regeneus (
http://www.regeneus.com.au
) uses a similar adipose-derived
stem cell technique, but has a different treatment model to Vet-Stem
in that they are able to harvest tissue samples, process them and treat
the animal on the same day on site.
2.5 What is the potential for market share?
This chapter has shown how emerging markets in the stem cell
sciences are being driven from the ground up by patient demand.
The existence of lucrative markets in stem cell tourism, the use of
stem cell therapies for anti-ageing treatments and the demand from
patient activists for more investment in stem cell therapies all
indicate that future markets for stem cell derived therapies will be
quite robust. Even in places where restrictions around human
