On the Cusp of Stem Cell Developments

David Crimmins, former marketing and business development director with Tesco Personal Finance and Simply Mortgages, has swapped the financial services sector for the equine health sector. While he is still involved in marketing and relationship management, most of his time is now spent with stud farm managers and in the laboratory.

Mr Crimmins (34) is the managing director of Protectas Health, a high potential start-up company with Enterprise Ireland, which provides long term storage for stem cells and white blood cells from horses.

Stem cells occur in the blood of animals and by isolating them and storing them at very low temperatures, Protectas Health makes the stem cells available to be used if required for veterinary treatment of injuries to the host animal.

David Crimmins sees many similarities between financial services and the handling of cord blood.

''It's similar to my work in the financial services industry where I was involved in two start-ups - Tesco Personal Finance and the roll out of non-mortgage products at Simply Mortgages. Marketing and relationship management are still key,'' he explains.

While David Crimmins will not comment on the potential for stem cells, there is another similarity with the world of financial services and the separation and storage of a foal's stem cells or white cells as ''a form of insurance''.

If the foal suffers an injury later in its life, its stem cells are available if required for use as part of any treatment to alleviate its injury and get it back to full health.

Stem cell technology is still in its infancy and many millions of dollars are being committed to research projects to try to find ways in which stem cells might be used in the prevention and treatment of animal and human diseases.

At the Imperial College in London, researchers are currently attempting to use stem cell ''patches'' to prevent further scarring of the heart after a myocardial infarct (heart attack).

Interest in stem cells is growing rapidly, according to Professor Pieter Brama of UCD, as a means of repairing damage to tissues such as cartilage, tendon and even the brain in horses.

''Significant research is taking place on the beneficial effects of stem cells on damaged tissue. The challenge is finding how best to use stem cells in a structure or scaffold'' Professor Brama says. ''More and more research papers are being written on stem cells and the number of hits on papers on websites is increasing.

In the equine veterinary world horses such as War of Attrition and Greg's Gold have been treated using their own stem cells.

War of Attrition was prevented from defending his 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup crown this year due to tendon problems. The popular thoroughbred underwent stem cell regeneration treatment in England in the expert care of David Chapman Jones. Davids other clients include the Samoan rugby world cup team.

Gregs gold turned up in his barn the day after winning a big stakes race in 2005 with a complaint called bowed tendon. It is an injury that usually results in expensive thoroughbreds being put out to pasture forever. However using stem cells to repair the right front tendon, Gregs Gold returned to racing at the highest level and was one of the top contenders in the $2 million Breeders Cup Sprint.

Although the company cannot disclose its current client base, Protectas Health is providing this unique service to some of the worlds leading studs. It takes a blood sample drawn from the umbilical cord at the time of foaling, isolates the stem cells from the blood, and stores the stem cells at extremely low temperatures in three locations chosen by the foal's owner.

In the United States, Kirk Horse Insurance offers a discount on its premiums to stud farms which use stem cell storage techniques. Protectas Health are working on a similar deal is in the pipeline for Irish horse owners.

There are 14,000 thoroughbred foals born in Ireland each year between the end of January and May. Some stud farms in Ireland have over 100 foal births each year, every year.

The market for stem cell storage may also extend to sports horses, like show jumpers and three day eventers, who are just as susceptible to joint injuries during their working lives.

The company was set up by Terry Sullivan, former managing director of Clonmel Healthcare, and Dermot Dougan an investor in technology companies. Protectas uses ''Lab in a Bag'' kits under licence from Lifeforce Immune Systems in Wales and holds the world-wide non-human licence for the technology. The stem cell storage process is liquid nitrogen vapour in a cyrogenic freezer. The Protectas service comprises testing of blood samples for major infectious diseases, a quarantine period and the freezing process.

The company has invested almost 1m in the course of its development to date and is currently in negotiations with new investors to provide funds to assist in further expansion.

http://horseplay.ie/news/?NewsID=48

On the Cusp of Stem Cell Developments

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