Foundation Venture Capital Group has made an investment in Celvive, a start-up company working to develop technology that would treat patients with chronic spinal cord injuries with their own adult stem cells.
FVCG has made an initial investment of USD175,000 in Celvive, which can go up to USD500,000 pending completion of certain milestones.
"Although patients with SCI have sympathy and support from the medical community, very little real progress has been made to improve the long-term prognosis for these patients," says Hatem Sabaawy, founder of Celvive and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of medical oncology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
Sabaawy wants to change that with his new method for treating patients with chronic SCI using adult stem cells that possess the ability to enhance regeneration of spinal nerves. Through Celvive, he has developed technology to deliver bone marrow cells from the hips of SCI patients by passing them through a sealed multiple-bag device and delivering the cells directly to the patient’s injury site.
"There are approximately 12,000 new patients with spinal cord injuries each year in the US, with more than 75 per cent of them male," says George F. Heinrich, vice chair and chief executive of Foundation Venture Capital Group. "If Dr. Sabaawy’s methods progress successfully in preclinical and clinical studies, he would help ease the suffering of millions of patients and families worldwide as they struggle with this devastating injury."
Foundation Venture Capital Group, an affiliate of New Jersey Health Foundation, was founded in 2006 to invest in commercially viable new start-up companies developing technology by faculty at UMDNJ.
