Hanover Portfolio Acquisitions, an IP acquisition, development and commercialization firm, has acquired biotechnology company, WeHealAnimals, Inc. (WHA). WHA’s intellectual property includes applications of square-waveform Time-Varying Electromagnetic Frequencies (TVEMF) to promote the mobilization, expansion and homing of endogenous stem cells to the sites of injury so that the body can repair itself.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Dr Donnie Rudd, president of WeHealAnimals and a NASA recognized inventor for his work in stem cell research, has joined Hanover as its chief scientist and director of intellectual property.
WHA is currently generating revenue. The acquisition will position Hanover to enter the field of regenerative medicine by leveraging the tremendous intellectual property of WHA.
Hanover is initially seeking a minimum of $10 million from institutional investors to develop and commercialize regenerative therapies using Time-Varying Electromagnetic Frequencies (TVEMF) that target various autoimmune and degenerative diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes via the regeneration of the heart and pancreas.
The potential savings from regenerative medicine treatments in the United States in terms of reducing the direct costs associated with chronic diseases has been estimated at approximately $250 billion a year, according to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine.
WHA's TVEMF-based therapies mobilize endogenous stem cells from the bone marrow into the circulation and subsequently direct them to the site of injury, where the body signals these endogenous stem cells to multiply and differentiate into the exact quantity and type of cells needed for repair. WHA's technologies achieve this by simply amplifying the signals that the body sends out as part of its normal physiological response to injury in order for it to repair and regenerate tissues and organs.
The normal physiological process of repair/healing involves complex interactions between growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and extracellular matrix degrading proteases. WHA's technologies work based on the fact that the body knows how to best repair itself.
WHA's technologies were originally developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to combat bone and muscle mass loss in outer space. NASA researchers were attempting to determine whether human tissues and cells could grow significantly in the weightless atmosphere of outer space and then be used for transplants should the need arise during long-termed manned exploration.
At NASA, the technology, which includes a bioreactor that simulates microgravity on earth, was used to culture cells three-dimensionally, resulting in tissues that more closely resembled those grown in the body. Previously, researchers could only grow cell cultures on earth two-dimensionally in Petri dishes because gravity would cause the multiplying cells to sink within their growth medium.
NASA researchers subsequently added TVEMF technology to the bioreactor, which led to an 80 fold expansion of stem cells and increased over 200 growth factors and cytokines, including G-CSF, GM-CSF, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, PDGFA and many others without the need for genetic modification.
WHA has conducted studies showing that athymic mice injected with TVEMF expanded stem cells, showed no tumors within 85 days of being injected with the expanded stem cells. This study validated that expanded stem cells could be transplanted without harmful effects that have been demonstrated with genetic modification.
Furthermore, WHA has a multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization "mFISH" study that verified that there was no chromosome damage or change in the TVEMF expanded stem cells 90 days after their expansion.
"These technologies represent a revolutionary approach to regenerative medicine. While others are pursuing the use of genetically modified stem cells, we are focused on bringing to market therapies that are safe and effective at treating diseases. We are looking at a complete paradigm shift in the way we look at treating autoimmune and degenerative diseases," stated Hanover chairman and CEO, Alan Collier.
"We are tremendously excited about transforming the stem cell therapy landscape by moving away from genetic modification and transplants and shifting toward the promotion of in situ regeneration by the body. Stem cell therapies currently rely on harvesting cells through invasive procedures, cryopreserving them, expanding them outside of the body through external growth factors, and then re-injecting them into the body. Other current research is the induced pluripotency of somatic cells in situ using genetic modifications, which have been shown to cause tumors due to the inability of researchers to control the expansion of these cells. Our TVEMF-based therapies can avoid all of those issues by simply amplifying the signals that the body emits as a normal physiological response to injury in order to repair itself," stated Hanover chief scientist, Dr. Donnie Rudd.