Korean Stem Cell Treatment Provider Opens Cell Processing Lab In Md.

RNL Biostar Inc., a subsidiary of Korean firm RNL Bio that offers stem cell treatments there and China, is opening a research lab and stem cell factory in Maryland.

The firm has been based at the Maryland Technology Development Center incubator in Rockville since 2006.

The company says it is testing stem cell-based treatments for both Buerger’s disease, an inflammatory and blood clotting condition, and osteoarthritis, in Korea, and has been approved by South Korean authorities to begin spinal cord injury treatments at the end of the year using a patient’s own fat-derived stem cells.

Stem cells extracted from patients’ fat samples collected at the Maryland lab are shipped for culturing in Korea. Patients then travel to China and Japan to be treated using intravenous injections of their own stem cells.

“We have helped a lot of people with rheumatoid arthritis with a one-time IV injection. It’s really amazing to watch,” said an RNL spokesman.

By Tierney Plumb, “RNL Biostar opens facility in Germantown incubator”, August 24, 2009, © Washington Business Journal