Stemade Biotech, a pioneer in dental stem cell banking is capitalizing on the proven efficacy and safety of mesenchymal stem cells including dental stem cells for clinical applications. The company has a patented technology to extract viable stem cells from the human tooth.
The positive response driven by the scope of treatment options with dental stem cells has led the company chalk out its pan India expansion and global market foray to Singapore and Middle East.
From the current six centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, Stemade intends to first be at 10 cities by year end. It would venture into six more by 2012. Currently, the company does not see the need to raise funds, but is expected to source the required resources when it sets up the R&D facility.
Recently, All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) New Delhi, commenced studies to show the efficacy of dental stem cells when converted into heart cells. A number of human studies have been conducted since 2000 when stem cells were first identified from permanent teeth. In 2003, human milk teeth were identified to have stem cells and 1,000 studies were conducted worldwide to show that these cells could be cryo-preserved with the potential to form many other cells of the body including bone cells, nerve cells, fat cells, heart cells and pancreatic cells. The 2009 clinical study showed that stem cells from teeth could grow the mandibular bone in humans, Shailesh Gadre, founder and managing director, Stemade Biotech and the former managing director of ORG IMS, told Pharmabiz.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has put together guidelines in tune with global standards for stem cells. Compared to other types of stem cells, collection of dental stem cells is easy, painless, non-invasive with no ethical complications from children aged from 5 to 12 years and adults extracting wisdom tooth. Moreover, dental stem cells are non-controversial adult stem cells, unlike questionable embryonic stem cells. The proven interactivity with biomaterials makes these ideal for tissue reconstruction.
“Going by the promising outcome of dental stem cells use, it gives us an opportunity to bank them. So far, from our presence in the last 18 months, we have received 300 registrations which is excepted to reach 100,000 registration by 2013. Cord blood banking market currently is poised at 80,000 to 1 lakh samples, however this opportunity is available only at birth. Dental stem cell market is 5 times its size and hence there is the potential to reach these numbers,” he added.
Although dental stem cells stored in our banks have not been sought for treatment because of no requests so far, we are educating parents and dentists across India. This has resulted in several queries from dental community to associate with us to adopt the innovative technology in an effort to enhance services to patients. “Banking dental stem cells is like buying a financial derivative product, where the downside is the money one invests and the upside could be infinite,” stated Gadre.