Daniel Herbster reporting
Have you ever been frustrated by the way the news media often fails to make the distinction between adult and embryonic stem cells when talking about research funding or medical results? The Repair Stem Cell Institute is trying to do something about it, and I had the opportunity to interview the Chairman and Founder of this organization, Don Margolis.
DH: Don, what are the differences between adult and embryonic stem cells?
DM: The difference is easily described when you don't use the common names but instead use their reason for existing, which is easier to understand. Adult stem cells are more aptly REPAIR stem cells (RSC); they know how to do just one function: REPAIR a sick part of the body. Embryonic stems cells are PROLIFERATING stem cells (PSC). They know how to proliferate through some stages and become a zygote, then proliferate through more stages and become a fetus, then proliferate again until it is a baby. REPAIR stem cells repair. They repair so much and so well that 100-plus diseases are being effectively treated with RSC around the world. Meantime, PSC constantly frustrate embryonic researchers by refusing to behave as repair cells because, well, they are NOT. Even when well-trained to repair a disease, PSC may do it but then off they go, wherever they wish, fighting the attempt to stop them from proliferating and sometimes they can completely rebel and become tumors. Now you can see why the treated disease score, after 10 years, is RSC, over 100; PSC, zero.
DH: Why is it so hard for the media to mention the fact that there is more than one type of stem cell (not all of which have ethical concerns)? Do you think there is often an intentional effort to blur the distinction?
DM: The American news media is more inclined to cover embryonic stem cell news and trends. I'm hoping that the reason for this slanted news coverage is because most writers, reporters and editors are uninformed about repair stem cell science and how relevant this science is right now in treating those 100-plus diseases, about half of them considered incurable by modern medicine. This is, of course, is one of the main reasons why The Repair Stem Cell Institute LLC (RSCI) was created a few months ago. My goal and the goal of my world-class Science Advisory Board is to educate and inform the American public and news media community about repair stem cell science and its treatment centers located around the world. No company or institution in the world can match the RSCI Science Advisory Board in stem cell skills and knowledge – no one comes close! Then again, not many in the world (outside of bloggers) are fighting the science battle for RSC.
DH: What is the The Repair Stem Cell Institute and what is its mission?
DM: RSCI is a public service organization which exists to save and improve lives; lives that are suffering and dying when they don't have to, in a world full of available RSC treatments. Our mission, stated in its simplest form, is to educate my countrymen that when a doctor tells someone they love, "There is nothing we can do," they will KNOW what to do. They will know to go to www.RepairStemCells.org, click on "Diseases Treated," then click on the disease in question and find out where and how to get treatment. They will also be shown which are the best places with the best doctors. If they are in doubt, they will be advised to call me. How many websites have you seen where the chairman of the company has his private phone number on the site?
DH: What led you to found this institution, and what kind of effort and preparations went into it?
DM: Six years ago, seven Brazilian doctors held the greatest clinical trial in cardiological history. They took 21 dying patients from the transplant list and implanted RSC into the hearts of 14 of them. When they wrote a paper in 2003 about the results, the American Heart Association was so surprised at the "impossible" results they themselves published the paper. Six months later I read that paper myself. I checked to see how many American clinical trials had started and was crushed to discover NONE. Nobody seemed to care that hundreds of thousands of heart patients were, and still are, dying unnecessarily. So I started a company myself in Thailand, hired an Israeli cardiologist in October 2003 and off we went. Nine months later we started a RSC clinical trial for chronically ill heart patients, but once the Thai doctors saw that it was safe, they encouraged us to start treating dying people outside the clinical trial. Fifteen MONTHS after startup we treated our first commercial patient, a New Jersey firefighter who was forced to retire by five heart attacks. Today, 3 ½ years later he is spending his time scuba diving in Thailand. The next American was Bob Grinstead of suburban Atlanta who was hoping to survive three more months so he could sit around and watch family and friends celebrate his 50th anniversary. Bob, who couldn't hardly get off his sofa, goes sailing now at age 72. He and Barbara just celebrated their 53rd this month. And a little RSC side effect: Bob's HA1c, which started over 11, is now down to 7, which means he is no longer a critical diabetic. So, 300 patients later, with a 75 percent success record, I retired because I wanted that number to be 300,000, not 300. After immersing myself in stem cells for 17 hours a day for 4½ years, the Institute is almost a vacation. The only hard part was going through the trouble to get the name approved.
DH: When researching the news I come across story after story of people experiencing breathtaking medical results from adult stem cell research. Usually these results are taking place overseas. Why is it so hard to get adult stem cell treatments approved in the United States and what would it take to speed up the process?
DM: America has had the worst declining health system in the world for a quarter century now. Every two years the Commonwealth Fund announces the results of its survey of American Medicine and it is ALWAYS down. In 2006 we were nip and tuck with Cuba in infant mortality. The system kills more people than you would believe, and not just because of the failure to allow stem cell therapy. For example, more people die from approved prescription drug side effects every month than in the ENTIRE 24 years before the current FDA law went into effect. And 10,000 people a month die from hospital accidents. The failure to approve beta blockers for eight years after Europe had proven them safe and effective cost 119,000 lives which is roughly equal to the TOTAL number of servicemen killed in Korea, Vietnam plus two Gulf Wars. In a lawyer-run declining system, what chance do stem cells have, especially since no one has figured a way to make a profit on them?
DH: I see your organization has only been in existence for a short time. Are there any notable achievements so far you’d like to share with us, and what are your major goals for the future?
DM: I kicked-off our educational program in Greece at a symposium for Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients where I met the one man in the world who has proven time and again that he can help paraplegics improve and even walk again (with walkers), Dr. Carlos Lima. Boy, did he teach me a lot, and not just about SCI. One of the many things was the naming of REPAIR and PROLIFERATING I use now to make things easier for the misinformed to become informed. I gave two short talks there (now on the NEWS page of www.RepairStemCells.org) which get into the misinformation problem we are trying to fix. We have had other PR efforts which are starting to wake up the public, but only just starting. The notable achievements are being done by the incredible doctors on our Science Board. For example, one of them was discovered on the net by the aunt of a young athlete about to have three limbs amputated because of sudden meningitis. Our doctor jumped on the next plane, flew to Dallas, took the athlete back to Florida where he drew his blood and shipped it to a special lab to extract and grow the RSC into big numbers. He then took the patient to his clinic in nearby (relatively) Dominican Republic. The lab shipped the cells there, our doctor implanted them into his hands and feet, then took him back to Florida. Today, two months later, the young man still has meningitis, of course, but he also has two hands and two feet with no threat of gangrene and amputation. More importantly, with me in the middle, I am encouraging our great doctors (in five different countries) to work together when a suffering patient needs special help. We've got a major case working right now: a beautiful suffering 18-year-old USA patient with a rare neural disease, the world's #1 cellular therapist in Israel with a therapy, and a brilliant doctor with a clinic just offshore who can implant the Israeli stem cells into the patient without her traveling 20,000 miles. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
DH: How did you determine the treatment centers you would endorse? What are some of the successes they’ve seen?
DM: ONLY by the history of the doctors involved, such as our five heroic Science Board members who actually do both research and treat patients themselves. We have one in addition to them on that list: the world leader (by light years) in neural diseases. Go to www.RepairStemCells.org, click on "Treatment Centers" and there you are –six of the best – and you get the e-mail addresses of the doctors themselves, or on the sixth one, to an American RN who runs the best stem cell service of anyone. Just e-mail one of the six with your disease or medical condition and your symptoms and any recent test results. If they don't come back to you in three days, call or e-mail ME!
DH: What are some of the successes they’ve seen?
DM: Dr. Kit is chairman of our Science Board and has PERSONALLY injected RSC into the heart muscle of 100 very ill patients with spectacular results too unbelievable to mention without getting into details too long for this article. Dr. Slavin is the unquestioned world’s #1 in cellular therapy, having been saving lives for over 15 years with cells, (not just stem cells). No one can touch him for saving cancer patients who have been deemed "terminal." Now he is into several other diseases and will soon be using RSC to replace destroyed bone and cartilage. Dr. Grekos (Naples, FL) is also a cardiologist. He just "invented" a new RSC implant procedure for a 21-year-old cardiomyopathy patient with multiple complications. Oh, by the way, he is also the "meningitis" doctor mentioned above. Not bad for a "cardiologist." I tease him sometimes about his amazing insights into RSC, calling him "The Next Shimon Slavin." Though he is embarrassed when I say it, in my opinion, he really is. Dr. Lima is a Lisbon neurologist and the unquestioned world’s #1 for SCI. Dr. Vina is an Argentine cardiologist who is a world leader in RSC research. He is the world's best RSC hope for diabetics and also for emphysema patients. (Go to http://www.repairstemcells.org/, click on TREATMENT CENTERS)
DH: Don, how can people find out more about your organization, and how can they spread the word about ethical adult stem cell treatments?
DM: It is all there at www.RepairStemCells.org and growing every day. For those who want to see some of my personal opinions, visit www.donmargolis.com....click on VICTORIES. Then pass some of the interesting stories (with a link) to friends and encourage them to do the same. If you have a website and would like to crosslink with us, just email repairstemcellinstitute@gmail.com and we'll do it. We’ve launched a nationwide grassroots media campaign. So, tell any talk radio people you know to connect with Jack Wynn, our director of communications & government – political affairs jackwynn@comcast.net) and I'd be glad to guest interview. Any newspaper, large or small, can get a series of my columns by e-mailing Jack. How much space do I have? I could go on for an hour!
DH: Thanks for taking the time to answers these questions.
Note: The views of any interviewee do not necessarily reflect the views of AdvanceUSA.