Advancells, a Noida-based stem cell therapy solution provider, will soon launch an oncology-specific cell line where the company will collect peripheral blood from the patient and process it to create stem cells like dendritic cells and Natural Killer Cells (NK Cells). These cells have the potential to get attached to the tumour in the body and destroy the same. This will be a helpful tool for the oncologist in managing the tumours.

Cancer is the second biggest killer after cardiovascular disease in the country. Considering this, we have undertaken an initiative to come up with oncology-specific cell line. Traditional treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy have a good chance of killing cancer cells but also kills the stem cells in the bone marrow, said Vipul Jain, founder of Advancells.

“Advancells helps in providing regenerative medicine based therapeutic solutions for the treatment of various life threatening and lifestyle diseases. We develop treatment protocols and produce stem cells in our lab that can be used by our partner hospitals and doctors to treat these diseases. We follow international guidelines as established by ISSCR, US FDA and ICMR. Advancells has tie-ups with over 50 doctors and 10 hospitals across the country to provide treatments”, he said.

“We are working on different ways in which to deliver cells to the body. For instance, if we are trying to deliver cells to the spinal cord, currently the cells don’t stay at the desired point as they are in liquid form. We are working on a scaffold which we can seed with cells and then paste it at the point of impact so the cells remain at desired position and work there. The scaffold will dissolve automatically in 21 days,” Jain said.

Currently, we are processing cells from bone marrow and adipose tissue. We will shortly be starting to process cells from other sources like skin and dental pulp as well. Cells from dental pulp have proven to be more effective in neurological conditions and therefore they can be used for the treatment of neurological conditions. Cells from the skin are good for wound healing, diabetic foot, ulcers etc., he informed.

With a team of 23, Advancells has provided 500 patients stem cell treatment so far.

When asked about the treatment cost, Jain said “The cost of the therapy depends on a lot of factors like type of cells used, route of re-injection, kind of facility etc. but as a ballpark figure one treatment cycle can cost approximately Rs.2,00,000.”

Advancells primarily work with autologous cells as they come without any ethical debate or risk of rejection. Moreover, the government is also not in favour of using manipulated cells (allogenic cells), he opined.

Advancells which is growing at a fast pace is also about to launch cosmetic and anti ageing specific portal called www.theyouthfulme.com which will specifically focus on providing anti ageing protocols for clients looking to shave off years in their looks and feeling much younger and energetic, he concluded.