Sport clubs to store players’ stem cells to heal them faster

“We’ve had discussions with AFL clubs and we’ve opened discussions with other major football codes,” the chief medical officer of Mesoblast, Silviu Itescu was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Declining to reveal names of the clubs which had shown interest, he said they would have to decide whether to cover just elite players or all members of the team.

According to the news report the stem cells would be taken from bone marrow in a player’s spine in a half-hour procedure done under local anesthesia.

Scientists would then separate the stem cells into a sub-group called mesenchymal precursor cells, and grow them in the laboratory for six weeks. The stem cells would then be stored in a cell bank, ready to be transplanted should an injury occur. The process is estimated to cost about USD 20,000 per player, it said.

The news report said the results from a clinical trial of the technology in patients with long bone fractures have been positive.