Philadelphia technology company Numoda‘s life sciences investment arm, Numoda Capital Innovations, has collaborated with IntelliCell Bioscience, a New York-based company seeking to harvest adult adipose stem cells in a cost-effective manner.
The process, ultrasonic cavitation, requires 60 cc or 2 ounces of fat from subjects to produce hundreds of millions of adult stem cells, much less than the 200 cc that would be removed in a typical liposuction procedure, Dr. Steve Victor of IntelliCell said. Victor said its process significantly reduces research costs over the alternatives currently offered, including sourcing stem cells from bone marrow and enzymatic separation.
IntelliCell plans to license the technology to institutions seeking to use stem cells in their research.
The first indication IntelliCell will pursue is for lower back pain caused by a variety of illnesses, including osteoarthritis. Victor added that its potential applications go far beyond that.
Numoda CEO Mary Schaheen said the company’s clinical trial research technology will be used to collect and manage the research data.
Numoda’s life sciences investment arm, Numoda Capital Innovations, is investing an undisclosed amount in IntelliCell, and has invested in life sciences companies for more than two years.
Last year, Numoda collaborated with the Cleveland Clinic‘s Neurological Institute in a venture to speed effective neurological drugs to market and quickly weed out those that don’t work, while reducing drug development costs.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
