Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 - (Page 48)

“If one considers the cost to the nation of chronic heart failure, one realizes the savings achievable by a curative stem cell therapy are potentially enormous.” the need to find a matching donor. Think about people with family histories of one form or another of cancer. Regardless of age, everyone is motivated to avoid disease and find ways to remain healthy. One group, in particular, that I’d like to mention are first responders — police, fire fighters, and other public employees, as well as health professionals, who could be exposed to radiation in a crisis. We’ve been lobbying the federal government to raise awareness about banking stem cells. The current treatment for radiation exposure is a donor bone marrow transplant. But if the stored autologous cells are available in the event of an emergency, the immune systems of exposed individuals could be reconstituted. The collection and storing of stem cells from first responders would have tremendous value from a humane perspective, because such people are an invaluable resource. Beyond that, I think it’s hard to pinpoint who would be the prototypical client, other than to say we’ll be targeting the larger metropolitan areas around the country as we continue to put various agreements in place with storage facilities, laboratories, and physician groups. Q: Where are you currently conducting business, and how is your operation set up to collect and store stem cells? A: We’re building throughout the United States and plan to be in several different locations. We recently launched a collection center in Long Island, and we’re anticipating opening shortly in New York City, where we have signed an agreement with a prominent physician group to collect cells. We have a similar arrangement to open a collection center with Stem Collect, in Santa Monica, Calif., and with Celvida, in Miami. We also have signed an agreement with the New England Cryogenic Center, a laboratory that can process and store the collected cells. As to the question of how the cells are stored, they are stored cryogenically in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of –193oC [–315oF]. Q: How much does all this cost? Although this procedure may appeal to many people, I would imagine that the cost is out of bounds for most Americans. A: Our 2008 pricing is $7,500 for the procedure to have stem cells collected. Then there’s about $800 for the filgrastim, and an annual $750 storage fee. We have financing from CareCredit, which brings the cost down to less than $200 a month over time. So we believe it does become affordable for a wider population. Q: How many customers do you have so far? A: We now have more than 40 samples in the bank, and we expect the number to pick up as we implement the various collection agreements and continue to educate aggressively. Q: Is there any insurance coverage at this time, and how likely do you think it is that there will ever be anything resembling extensive coverage, given that the cost is only likely to increase over time? A: No, there’s currently no insurance coverage, and the availability of such coverage will take time as the results of clinical trials and economic studies accumulate. Right now, I don’t think there’s any good study that shows the specifics of cost savings. However, if one considers the cost to the nation of a condition such as chronic heart failure, one realizes that the cost savings achievable by a curative stem cell therapy are potentially enormous. We need to demonstrate that stem cell transplants can and will become a standard of care. When that will be, I don’t know. At this point, we’re really not making any projections. Q: Why should an insurer foot the bill for this? A: The cost of transplants can be large and won’t come down. And in general, medical care is out of reach for many people. Healthcare is a hot-button topic in this country. The issue here is whether to make an investment in something that can reduce those costs later. The cost of an autologous stem cell procedure can be anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000. By comparison, the cost of a procedure involving a donor could be 6 to 10 times that much, not including immunosuppressive drugs that run $4,000 a year. If enough people choose to bank their stem cells, imagine the cost savings to the healthcare system in the future. Ed Silverman is a writer at the StarLedger, in Newark, N.J., and is the blogger behind Pharmalot.com. 48 BIOTECHNOLOGY HEALTHCARE · JULY/AUGUST 2008 http://Pharmalot.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008

Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008 Openers Contents Editorial/David B. Nash, MD, MBA Drug Track Health Plan Confidential Rheumatoid Arthritis A Decade of Trial, Error, False Starts, and Hope What Path Will Comparative Effectiveness Research Take? RA Therapies in Development: A New Generation of Relief Assessing the Full Impact of RA on Employers and Payers Stem Cells: Health Insurance You Can Bank On Specialty Pharmacy Employer to Employer Personalized Medicine Trends Clinical Briefs

Biotechnology Healthcare - July/August 2008

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