About Bill Paspaliaris (Biography)
Dr Bill Paspaliaris is a scientist who graduated with a science degree with honors from Melbourne University and later completed his doctorate at St Vincent?s Institute of Medical Research through the same university. He then did his post-doctoral fellowship at Pfizer Central Research, Pfizer Inc., in Connecticut. He then worked and consulted to a number of pharmaceutical/biotech companies in Japan and Australia.
After starting his clinical training in Athens and completing it in Calcutta he did contract work with the French Foreign Legion in Africa in military medicine. In early 2006 he partnered with an English friend, Mr. James Thornton, and founded Adistem Ltd in Hong Kong. He has published over 20 papers and given over 50 lectures in a variety of medical fields but mostly stem cell medicine. He has been awarded three young investigator awards for his research and was knighted by the Greek Orthodox Church for his humanitarian accomplishments in Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone.
He received an Appreciation Award in 2008 by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists for his work on adipose-derived stem cells in Type II diabetic patients. He is currently an active member of the World Anti-Aging Medicine Society, World Laser Therapy Association and the International Federation of Adipose Therapeutics and Science.
1) I have Parkinson's Disease. I have done a lot of research and am getting confused as to what is the best method of getting the stem cells into me. It seems like there are at least 6 different methods. What are your thoughts on this?
We have a group of neurosurgeons using our technique for a variety of neurological conditions in Greece. Using a radiolabel tracer, we have been able to prove that adipose-derived stem cells administered intravenously do travel and implant into regions of the CNS. We have not done enough parkinson?s patients to conclude any results. The patient?s results seem to fall into three categories (no result, short-lived positive result, and permanent positive result). We do not know why it works exceptionally well in some subjects and there is no result in others. This is one subject the neurosurgeons will be looking at in the near future. In cases such as cerebella atrophy we have been seeing a consistent positive permanent result in all patients one so far. I am not familiar with the other methods for Parkinson?s so I cannot comment on them. One of the neurosurgeons, however, was part of a trial team in Sweden over a decade ago where they where using fetal stem cells applied directly into the brain. They had good clinical results but also had severe side-effects so the trial was stopped.
2) Do you think Adipose tissues will work better then bone marrow at regenerating lung tissue? How long does it take to harvest adipose cells using Adistem technology?
I do believe that adipose-derived stem cells have more promise for degenerative respiratory diseases such as IPF and emphysema, than cells from bone marrow. Outside of the fact that you can harvest far more stem cells from fat, the main reason is that the adipose extracted fraction (known as the stromal vascular fraction) that we harvest and use has a plethora of different progenitor and stem cells, rather than just mesenchyme stem cells, that assist in lung repair.
3) Do you know if cervical herniated discs can be treated successfully with stem cells?
I am aware that some work is being done by a group of orthopedic surgeons in the USA looking at herniated discs with bone marrow derived stem cells but do not know enough to comment on it. The neurosurgeons in Greece have treated two cases with cervical lesions due to spinal injury/trauma with good results but we have not treated anyone with cervical herniated discs. We have also performed the therapy in a number of cases of osteoarthritis of the knees in the Philippines and Korea where the adipose-derived stem cells where injected intra-articularly with very promising results. We are planning to initiate a trial in Australia in osteoarthritis of the knee this year.
4) It has been three and 1/2 weeks since my wife's second autologous treatment. The first week was difficult, her breathing was not as good as before, but by the end of the second week, she was doing as well as before the second treatment. She is continuing to improve this week, and we believe she is better than before the last treatment. She walked from our front door to our car, about 50 feet, and climbed into a very tall pickup, without oxygen. She was unable to walk 10 feet with oxygen prior to the first treatment. She has experienced some short term memory problems, which we think is related to the stemcells, and we believe will go away with time. What is your opinion that the stem cells may have caused short term memory problems? My wife suffers from COPD.
It is great to hear your wife is doing well. I am not sure what type of treatment or type of stem cells where used, as you do not specify ? therefore I cannot really comment. My experience with surgeons using our method has been the opposite - a majority of patients have commented that their short term memory and concentration span improve. This has also been commented to me by a German doctor who uses bone marrow ?derived stem cells. I wish all the best to your wife.
5) I am asking for information for a person who had polio many years ago, and was left with virtually no working muscles in his abdomen. He can walk, but with great difficulty, and with no muscle support for his back, he has had back pain for many years when he stands up for even short periods of time.
I guess the question is "Is there a statute of limitations" on the ability of stem cells to regenerate muscle damage suffered perhaps 30 or 40 years (or more) ago?
To our surprise we have not observed any ?statute of limitations? in the age of the patient or the age of the disease. For example, we performed the therapy on an elderly female stroke patient who had the stroke 8 years prior and was left paralyzed down her left side and wheel-chair-bourn. We did not expect there to be any positive result. She surprised us by walking six months later. Conversely we performed the therapy on another stroke patient who had the stroke three months prior but had little result. There are, of course, limitations to these therapies, such as where there is huge amount in organ degeneration or congenital and non-congenital absence of tissue.
6) Are you or do you plan to treat sensory neural hearing loss with autologous stem cells? If so, how? If not do you know of any clinics who are treating sn hearing loss with success?
There was a surgeon who approached me in Athens who wanted to trial the therapy on sensory hearing loss patients. I directed him to our group in Greece. I am not sure if they have started any work but I will find out when I will be there at the end of the month. I am not aware of any clinics treating this but I am sure there are research groups looking at this. There is a well known university clinical research group in Crete who are trialing our therapy for blindness and other eye diseases.
7-9) How many COPD patients has Adistem performed this procedure on?
Adistem does not perform any procedures ? we do not have any clinics. We are a biotech company that gives the technology to interested and relevant doctors/surgeons to perform. Even the trials we do are performed by experts in their fields. There have been two emphysema patients it was performed on in the Philippines, one in Korea and eleven IPF patients in Greece. The patients in Greece are under trial and had their stem cells administered by bronchoscope and intravenously.
Was their lung improvement all better than the 5-7% claimed on your web site? (That's clinically significant)
Both patients in the Philippines and the one in Korea saw an improvement in lung function of 5-7% two months after intravenous administration of their adipose-derived stem cells. This prompted a very well-respected respiratory group to try the therapy on a severe case of emphysema and IPF. They also observed a 5% improvement in lung capacity in this one case and also observed positive lung changes in his scan. The first results in the IPF patients under pilot trial will come out at the end of Feb 2010.
What is the cost of your procedure?
This depends on the doctors or hospital group performing the therapy and the country they are in. They generate their pricing according to the costs they will incur ? their time, nurses, hospital surgical theatre etc. We do not control their pricing.
10) Is there a discount for fat people? (Just joking)
Ha ha ha! Good joke.
11) Do I understand that you offer a complete system to perform this procedure?
We do offer a complete system for interested doctors to perform the procedure.
12) Have anyone in North America been licensed to perform this procedure?
There are two doctor/surgeons who will come to Greece for training end of this month. One is a well known anti-aging doctor from Colorado and another in a well known surgeon from New York. They found out from their legal people that because it is an autologous technique done in a single setting they are free to perform it.
13) Would you consider an orphan procedure study in the U.S.?
We always consider any studies involving groups who are interested in clinical and basic research with our method. There is still a lot of research that needs to be done. I believe that their will be a trial in IPF this year in the USA, if everything goes to plan, but I am not at liberty to say who is involved yet.
14) I have had stem cell treatment using my own marrow and adipose stem cells. Why would both of these be used at the same time?
I am not sure. Mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow and fat are 99.99%identical. Relatively, bone marrow does contain a large number of hema-topoietic stem cells but less mesenchyme stem cells. So one possible explanation would be that your bone marrow stem cells was used to treat an immune disorder etc.
About Adistem
AdiStem Ltd. is a biotechnology company which discovers, develops and provides to doctors autologous adult adipose-derived stem cell extraction and activation products that address serious disease conditions and assist in particular cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures.
AdiStem Ltd. owns proprietary technologies for stem cell administration that are shared with qualified medical practitioners through instructional courses, workshops and seminars. Due to its doctor and hospital relationships and collaborative efforts with medical institutions, AdiStem Ltd. believes it is now a leading provider of autologous adipose-derived adult stem cell products and procedures.
Aside from autologous adipose-derived stem cell therapy, Adistem is focused on the discovery and development of novel stem cell derived peptides to accelerate tissue and organ repair. Currently, Adistem is developing a product candidate, TB4-7, for Type II diabetes. Adistem is also developing other product candidates for use on other diseases. These product candidates are based on TB4, a synthetic derivative copy of the 43-amino acid, naturally occurring peptide. Adistem holds and has applied for over 6 world-wide patents and patent applications related to novel peptides to date.
CONTACT US
Telephone: +632 856 5100
Fax: +632 864 0448
Email: info@adistem.com
AdiStem Ltd. owns proprietary technologies for stem cell administration that are shared with qualified medical practitioners through instructional courses, workshops and seminars. Due to its doctor and hospital relationships and collaborative efforts with medical institutions, AdiStem Ltd. believes it is now a leading provider of autologous adipose-derived adult stem cell products and procedures.
Aside from autologous adipose-derived stem cell therapy, Adistem is focused on the discovery and development of novel stem cell derived peptides to accelerate tissue and organ repair. Currently, Adistem is developing a product candidate, TB4-7, for Type II diabetes. Adistem is also developing other product candidates for use on other diseases. These product candidates are based on TB4, a synthetic derivative copy of the 43-amino acid, naturally occurring peptide. Adistem holds and has applied for over 6 world-wide patents and patent applications related to novel peptides to date.
CONTACT US
Telephone: +632 856 5100
Fax: +632 864 0448
Email: info@adistem.com
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