LifeCell International India’s first & the largest stem cell banking service provider, which has also pioneered in stem cell research and technology, today announced its association with Harvest Technologies, a world leader in developing technologies that accelerate natural healing, to bring-in a next generation technology Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) system in India. BMAC is a USFDA and CE approved biological technology that accelerates the body’s natural healing capacity, thereby improving surgical outcomes.

Existing methods to produce a stem cell concentrate therapy are time consuming, labour intensive, and require complex logistical considerations. The BMAC System helps in safe and rapid preparation of cell concentrate from bone marrow. The process takes only about 15 minutes and can be conducted in the point of care setting.

The system is currently being used clinically in many developed countries like US and Europe for various medical disciplines. These applications range from fractures, non-unions, osteonecrosis, cartilage repair applications and critical limb ischemia (CLI). The system will soon be applied for cardio vascular regeneration.

LifeCell has implemented this technology for an ongoing Indian CLI study which is being led by Dr. K. S. Vijayragavan at Department of Vascular Surgery, SRMC. As per the data available on the interim study conduted on 30 patients after a 12 week followup major amputations were seen only in 4 patients and 6 of them went for minor amputation. The patients’s also reported significant reduction in their pain perception and considerable improvement in quality of life. The study also emphasised the fact that the BMAC process is safe and the Intra-arterial infusion does not cause any adverse reaction.

Talking on the association with Harvest Technologies, Mr. Mayur Abhaya, Executive Director, LifeCell International says, “We are excited to partner with Harvest Technologies to bring-in international standards to India. LifeCell International is today India’s only comprehensive stem cells solutions provider as we offer a complete spectrum of services and with this association we intend to accelerate the availability of advanced stem cell therapy in India.

According to Scott Shea, Managing Director, Harvests Technologies GmbH, “The Autologous regenerative cells from bone marrow offer profound potential for therapies. Harvest has conducted about 30,000 clinical procedures for various applications, the highest number of procedures in the world, using the BMAC System. Our novel technology now makes it possible to harvest the regenerative cells safely and rapidly in order to develop new therapies for heretofore incurable diseases.”
“We are delighted to be associated with LifeCell, an undisputed market leader in stem cell technology space and extend our services in India.  LifeCell has a well established network with hospitals and clinical institutions across India and we would leverage their strength to rapidly deploy our service across the country and provide HOPE in addressing unmet medical challenges by offering cellular therapeutic options.”

Commenting on the interim report presented on the studies conducted for CLI in India using the BMAC technology, Mr. Mayur added, “Through our clinical research, we have identified that the transplantation of autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) into critically ischemic leg can increase blood flow and support in healing the wounds quickly. It also helps in reducing pain and avoiding leg amputation of otherwise incurable patients. This is also validated by the outcome of the CLI study which showed that 86.6% of patients could avoid amputation.”