Life and death in Wuhan: On the front lines fighting coronavirus – Nikkei Asian Review

WUHAN, China (Caixin) -- In the coronavirus epidemic, doctors on the front lines take on the greatest risk and best understand the situation. Peng Zhiyong, director of acute medicine at the Wuhan University South Central Hospital, is one of those doctors.

In an interview on Tuesday with Caixin, Peng described his personal experiences in first encountering the disease in early January and quickly grasping its virulent potential and the need for stringent quarantine measures.

As the contagion spread and flooded his ICU, the doctor observed that three weeks seemed to determine the difference between life and death. Patients with stronger immune systems would start to recover in a couple of weeks, but in the second week some cases would take a turn for the worse.

In the third week, keeping some of these acute patients alive might require extraordinary intervention. For this group, the death rate seems to be 4% to 5%, Peng said. After working 12-hour daytime shifts, the doctor spends his evenings researching the disease and has summarized his observations in a thesis.

The doctors and nurses at his hospital are overwhelmed with patients. Once they don protective hazmat suits, they go without food, drink and bathroom breaks for their entire shifts. That's because there's aren't enough of the suits for a mid-shift change, he said.

Over the past month on the front lines of the coronavirus battle, Peng has been brought to tears many times when forced to turn away patients for lack of staffing and beds. He said what really got to him, though, was the death of an acutely ill pregnant woman when treatment stopped for lack of money -- the day before the government decided to pick up the costs of all coronavirus treatments.

Here is our interview with the ICU doctor:

Screening criteria were too tough in the beginning

Caixin: When did you encounter your first novel coronavirus patient?

Peng Zhiyong: Jan. 6, 2020. There was a patient from Huanggang who had been refused by multiple hospitals and was sent to the South Central Hospital emergency room. I attended the consultation. At the time, the patient's illness was already severe, and he had difficulty breathing. I knew right then that he had contracted this disease. We debated at length whether to accept the patient. If we didn't, he had nowhere to go; if we did, there was a high likelihood the disease would infect others. We had to do a very stringent quarantine. We decided to take the patient in the end.

I called the hospital director and told him the story, including the fact that we had to clear the hospital room of other patients and to remodel it after SARS standards by setting up a contamination area, buffer area and cleaning area while separating the living areas of the hospital staff from the patients'.

On Jan. 6, with the patient in the emergency room, we did quarantine remodeling in the emergency room and did major renovations to the intensive care unit. South Central Hospital's ICU has 66 beds in total. We kept a space dedicated to coronavirus patients. I knew the infectiousness of the disease. There were bound to be more people coming in, so we set aside 16 beds. We did quarantine renovations on the infectious diseases area because respiratory illnesses are transmitted through the air, so even air has to be quarantined so that inside the rooms the air can't escape. At the time, some said that the ICU had a limited number of beds and 16 was excessive. I said it wasn't excessive at all.

Caixin: You predicted in January that there would be person-to-person transmission and even took quarantine measures. Did you report the situation to higher-ups?

Peng: This disease really did spread very fast. By Jan. 10, the 16 beds in our ICU were full. We saw how dire the situation was and told the hospital's leadership that they had to report even higher. Our head felt it was urgent too, and reported this to the Wuhan city health committee. On Jan. 12, the department sent a team of three specialists to South Central to investigate. The specialists said that clinical symptoms really resembled SARS, but they were still talking about diagnosis criteria, that kind of stuff. We replied that those standards were too stringent. Very few people would get diagnosed based on those criteria. The head of our hospital told them this multiple times during this period. I know other hospitals were doing the same.

Before this, the specialists had already gone to Jinyintan Hospital to investigate and made a set of diagnosis criteria. You had to have had exposure to the South China Seafood Market, you needed to have had a fever and test positive for the virus. You had to meet all three criteria in order to be diagnosed. The third one was especially stringent. In reality, very few people were able to test for a virus.

On Jan. 18, the high-level specialists from the National Health Commission came to Wuhan, to South Central Hospital to inspect. I told them again that the criteria were too high. This way it was easy to miss infections. I told them this was infectious; if you made the criteria too high and let patients go, you're putting society in danger. After the second national team of specialists came, the criteria were changed. The number of diagnosed patients rose quickly.

Caixin: What made you believe the new coronavirus could be transmitted between people?

Peng: Based on my clinical experience and knowledge, I believed that the disease would be an acutely infectious one and that we needed high-level protection. The virus isn't going to change based on man's will. I felt we needed to respect it and act according to science. Heeding my requirements, South Central Hospital's ICU took strict quarantine measures, and as a result, our department only had two infections. As of Jan. 28, of the entire hospital's medical personnel, only 40 have been infected. This is way less compared with other hospitals in terms of percentage of total medical staff.

It pains us to see the coronavirus develop to such a desperate state. But the priority now is to treat people; do everything we can to save people.

Fatality rate for acute patients is 4% to 5%. Three weeks determine life and death

Caixin: Based on your clinical experience, what's the disease progression of the new coronavirus?

Peng: Lately I've been spending daytimes seeing patients in the ICU, then doing some research in the evenings. I just wrote a thesis. I drew on data from 138 cases that South Central Hospital had from Jan. 7 to Jan. 28 and attempted to summarize some patterns of the novel coronavirus.

A lot of viruses will die off on their own after a certain amount of time. We call these self-limited diseases. I've observed that the breakout period of the novel coronavirus tends to be three weeks, from the onset of symptoms to developing difficulties breathing. Basically going from mild to severe symptoms takes about a week. There are all sorts of mild symptoms: feebleness, shortness of breath, some people have fevers, some don't. Based on studies of our 138 cases, the most common symptoms in the first stage are fever (98.6% of cases), feebleness (69.6%), cough (59.4%), muscle pains (34.8%) and difficulties breathing (31.2%), while less common symptoms include headaches, dizziness, stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

But some patients who enter the second week will suddenly get worse. At this stage, people should go to the hospital. Elderly with underlying conditions may develop complications; some may need machine-assisted respiration. When the body's other organs start to fail, that's when it becomes severe, while those with strong immune systems see their symptoms decrease in severity at this stage and gradually recover. So the second week is what determines whether the illness becomes critical.

The third week determines whether critical illness leads to death. Some in critical condition who receive treatment can increase their lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, and see an improvement in their immune systems, and have been brought back, so to speak. But those whose lymphocyte numbers continue to decline, those whose immune systems are destroyed in the end, experience multiple organ failure and die.

For most, the illness is over in two weeks, whereas for those for whom the illness becomes severe, if they can survive three weeks they're good. Those that can't will die in three weeks.

Caixin: Could you give more details on clinical research? What percentage of cases develop from mild conditions to severe conditions? What percentage of serious cases develop into life-threatening ones? What is the mortality rate?

Peng: Based on my clinical observations, this disease is highly contagious, but the mortality rate is low. Those that progressed into the life-threatening stage often occurred in the elderly already with chronic diseases.

As of Jan. 28, of 138 cases, 36 were in the ICU, 28 recovered, five died. That is to say, the mortality rate of patients with severe conditions was 3.6%. Yesterday, Feb. 3, another patient died, bringing the mortality rate to 4.3%. Given patients in the ICU, it is likely to have more deaths. The mortality rate is also likely to edge up but not significantly.

Those hospitalized tend to have severe or life-threatening conditions. Patients with slight symptoms are placed in quarantine at home. We have not gathered data on the percentage of cases that progress from slight symptoms to serious symptoms. If a patient goes from serious conditions to life-threatening conditions, the patient will be sent to the ICU. Among 138 patients, 36 were transferred to the ICU, representing 26% of all patients. The percentage of deaths among life-threatening cases is about 15%. The mean period to go from slight conditions to life-threatening conditions is about 10 days. Twenty-eight patients recovered and were discharged. Right now, the recovery rate is 20.3% while other patients remain hospitalized.

It is notable that 12 cases were linked to South China Seafood Market; 57 were infected while being hospitalized, including 17 patients already hospitalized in other departments; and 40 medical staff, among 138 cases, as of Jan. 28. That demonstrates that a hospital is a high-risk zone and appropriate protection must be taken.

Caixin: What is the highest risk a seriously ill patient faces?

Peng: The biggest assault the virus launches is on a patient's immune system. It causes a fall in the count of lymphocytes, damage in the lungs and shortness of breath. Many serious patients died of choking. Others died of the failure of multiple organs following complications in their organs resulting from a collapse of the immune system.

Caixin: A 39-year-old patient in Hong Kong suffered from cardiac arrest, and he died quickly. A few patients did not have severe symptoms upon the onslaught of the virus, or in the early stages, but they died suddenly. Some experts argue that the virus triggers a cytokine storm, which ravages the stronger immune systems of young adults. Eventually excessive inflammations caused by cytokine result in the higher mortality rate. Have you seen such a phenomenon in the coronavirus outbreak?

Peng: Based on my observations, a third of patients exhibited inflammation in their whole body. It was not necessarily limited to young adults. The mechanism of a cytokine storm is about whole-body inflammation, which leads to a failure of multiple organs and quickly evolves into the terminal stage. In some fast-progressing cases, it took two to three days to progress from whole-body inflammation to the life-threatening stage.

Caixin: How do you treat serious and life-threatening cases?

Peng: For serious and life-threatening cases, our main approach is to provide oxygen, high-volume oxygen. At first noninvasive machine-pumped oxygen, followed by intubated oxygen if conditions worsen. For life-threatening cases, we use ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or pumping the patient's blood through an artificial lung machine). In four cases, we applied ECMO to rescue patients from the verge of death.

Currently there are no special drugs for the coronavirus. The primary purpose of the ICU is to help patients sustain the functions of their body. Different patients have different symptoms. In case of shortness of breath, we provided oxygen; in case of a kidney failure, we gave dialysis; in case of a coma, we deployed ECMO. We provide support wherever a patient needs it to sustain their life. Once the count of lymphocytes goes up and the immune system improves, the virus will be cleared. However, if the count of lymphocytes continues to fall, it is dangerous because the virus continues to replicate. Once a patient's immune system is demolished, it is hard to save a patient.

Caixin: There is news of some drugs that work. People are hopeful of U.S.-made remdesivir, which cured the first case in the United States. What do you think of the drugs?

Peng: There are no 2019 novel coronavirus-targeted drugs so far. Some patients may recover after taking some drugs along with supportive treatment. But such individual cases do not indicate the universal effect of the drugs. The effect is also related to how serious each case is and their individual health conditions. People want a cure urgently, and that is understandable. But we need to be cautious.

Caixin: Do you have any advice for coronavirus patients?

Peng: The most effective approach to the virus epidemic is to control the source of the virus, stem the spread of the virus and prevent human-to-human transmission. My advice for a patient is going to a special ward for infectious diseases, early detection, early diagnosis, early quarantine and early treatment. Once it has developed into a severe case, hospitalization is a must. It is better to contain the disease at an early stage. Once it reaches the life-threatening stage, it is way more difficult to treat it and requires more medical resources. With regard to life-threatening cases, try to save them with ICU measures to reduce the mortality rate.

Sad story of a pregnant patient

Caixin: How many patients with life-threatening conditions have you treated? How many have recovered?

Peng: As of Feb. 4, six patients in the ICU of South Central Hospital died. Eighty percent of them have been improving, a quarter are approaching their discharge and the remainder are still recovering in segregated wards.

The patient who impressed me most came from Huanggang. He was the first to be saved with the assistance of ECMO. He had contact with South China Seafood Market and was in very serious condition. He was transferred to the ICU and we saved him with ECMO. He was discharged from the hospital Jan. 28.

Caixin: What is your workload and pace like?

Peng: The ICU is overloaded. There are three patient wards with 66 beds in South Central Hospital, housing 150 patients. Since Jan. 7 when we received the first patient, no one took any leave. We took turns working in the ICU. Even pregnant medical staff did not take leave. After the epidemic got worse, none of the medical staff ever went home. We rest in a hotel near the hospital or in the hospital.

In the segregated ward, we wear level-3 protective gear. One shift is 12 hours for a doctor and eight hours for a nurse. Since protective gear is in a shortage, there is only one set for a medical staff member a day. We refrain from eating or drinking during our shift because the gear is no longer protective once we go to the washroom. The gear is thick, airtight and tough on our body. It felt uncomfortable at the beginning, but we are used to it now.

Caixin: Did you experience any danger? For example, in case of intubation, what do you do to prevent yourselves from being infected?

Peng: It is a new coronavirus. We are not sure of its nature and its path of spread. It is not true to say we are not afraid. Medical staff members do fear to some extent. But patients need us. When a patient is out of breath and noninvasive oxygen provision fails, we must apply intubation. The procedure is dangerous as the patient may vomit or spit. Medical staff are likely to be exposed to the danger of infection. We strictly require doctors and nurses to apply the highest-level protection. The biggest problem we face now is the shortage of protective gear. The protective stock for ICU staff is running low, although the hospital prioritizes the supply to us.

Caixin: Is there anything that moved you in particular? Did you cry?

Peng: I often cried because so many patients could not be admitted to the hospital. They wailed in front of the hospital. Some patients even knelt down to beg me to accept him into the hospital. But there was nothing I could do since all beds were occupied. I shed tears while I turned them down. I've run out of tears now. I have no other thoughts but to try my best to save more lives.

The most saddest thing was a pregnant woman from Huanggang. She was in very serious condition. Nearly 200,000 yuan ($28,700) was spent after more than a week in the ICU. She was from the countryside, and the money for hospitalization was borrowed from her relatives and friends. Her condition was improving after the use of ECMO, and she was likely to survive. But her husband decided to give up. He cried for his decision. I wept too because I felt there was hope for her to be saved. The woman died after we gave up. And exactly the next day, the government announced a new policy that offers free treatment for all coronavirus-infected patients. I feel so sorry for that pregnant woman.

The deputy director of our department told me one thing, and he cried too. Wuhan 7th Hospital is in a partnership with our hospital, South Central Hospital. The deputy director went there to help in their ICU. He found that two-thirds of the medical staff in the ICU were already infected. Doctors there were running "naked" as they knew they were set to be infected given the shortage of protective gear. They still worked there nonetheless. That was why ICU medical staff were almost all sickened. It is too tough for our doctors and nurses.

Read the original story here.

Caixinglobal.com is English-language online news portal of Chinese financial and business news media group Caixin. Nikkei recently agreed with the company to exchange articles in English.

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Life and death in Wuhan: On the front lines fighting coronavirus - Nikkei Asian Review

First CAR-T cell cancer therapy patient in Delaware – Dover Post

'This is the beginning of my new life'

I thought my cancer diagnosis was a death sentence, said Lynnette Williams-Briggs, 60, of Seaford, Delaware, who was diagnosed with advanced B-cell lymphoma in 2018.

Briggs cancer is now in complete remission thanks to successful chimeric antigen receptor CAR-T cell therapy she received in August atChristianaCaresHelen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research InstitutesBone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program.

I can breathe again. This is the beginning of my new life, Williams-Briggs said following the treatment that restored her hope for a second chance at life.

She was the first patient to receive CAR-T cell therapy in Delaware. A second patient was treated in December 2019, and doctors are preparing several more patients for CAR-T cell transplants in coming weeks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved CAR-T cell therapy to treat patients like Williams-Briggs with highly resistant, B-cell blood cancers, for whom other available options have failed.

CAR-T cell therapy is only available at select cancer centers with specialized expertise in cellular therapies that are recognized for quality by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

The Graham Cancer Centers Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program is the only one in Delaware that is certified to treat adult patients with advanced B-cell lymphomas and children and young adults (to age 25) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, using an FDA-approved drug.

CAR-T cell therapy is highly personalized medicine that attempts to use the bodys natural defenses to fight against cancer. The transplant team extracts millions of T cells, from the patients bloodstream, using a specialized blood filtration process called leukapheresis. The collected T cells are flash-frozen and sent to a lab for reprogramming, and then later infused back into the patient using a process similar to a blood transfusion.

The therapy is considered a living drug with potential benefits that could last for years.

When we first met Ms. Williams-Briggs, her cancer had progressed rapidly despite a third round of chemotherapy, so we knew we had to move quickly, said Graham Cancer Center Hematologist Peter Abdelmessieh, D.O. He worked closely with the bone marrow/stem cell transplant team and Graham Cancer Center leadership over the course of just eight months to develop the CAR-T cell therapy program.

It was truly a team effort to bring CAR-T cell therapy to our community so quickly, Dr. Abdelmessieh said.

CAR-T cell therapy has been extremely effective for many patients like Williams-Briggs, whose PET scan at 90 days confirmed her remission.

The supercharged T cells Williams-Briggs received were genetically modified in the lab to sprout new surface tools that improve their ability to recognize, latch onto and destroy other cells (including cancer cells) that express a specific antigen called CD19. These reprogrammed cells continue to multiply in the body after treatment, remaining on guard to seek and destroy any new cancers that might develop.

With continued success in increasing numbers of patients, it is conceivable that in the not too distant future, CAR-T cell therapy could become the new standard of care, replacing chemotherapy and stem cell transplants for many cancers, Dr. Abdelmessieh said.

The extended recovery period for CAR-T cell therapy is generally two to three months. After the infusion, patients may spend up to three weeks in the hospital to monitor treatment response and any side effects.

During the first 30 days after leaving the hospital, patients are required to remain close to the treatment center for regular follow-up care.

The ability to offer potentially life-saving CAR-T cell therapy is one more reason our patients need not travel further than the Graham Cancer Center for state-of-the-science cancer treatment, said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America medical director of the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute.

The Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program is an outstanding example of how well our clinical teams work together to drive innovation in patient care.

Although patients normally do not experience the side effects associated with chemotherapy, such as nausea, vomiting or hair loss, CAR-T cell therapy is not without risks. A common side effect, which Williams-Briggs also experienced, is cytokine release syndrome. This is an inflammatory condition that causes flu-like symptoms that may be mild or severe.

The transplant team responded quickly to manage her symptoms while she received expert care on the Bone Marrow Transplant and Oncology unit at Christiana Hospital.

From the moment I first met with my transplant team, I felt like I was part of one big loving family that extended beyond my own loved ones, Williams-Briggs said.

Dr. Abdelmessieh and my ChristianaCare family gave me hope to keep fighting when I really didnt think I would make it. I would have driven anywhere to get life-saving treatment, but I am thankful that I did not have to. I found my miracle closer to home.

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First CAR-T cell cancer therapy patient in Delaware - Dover Post

Immune therapy tweak offers new hope to blood cancer patients – NBC News

A retired Texan had endured 12 years of chemotherapy for blood cancer only to see the disease come back stronger and meaner each time.

It was long, hard and terrible, J.C. Cox, 66, said.

So when he was told that he could take part in a clinical trial of a newly modified form of immune therapy, he signed on.

In that small preliminary trial, the results of which were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly two-thirds of the patients, all of whom had cancer so advanced that just a decade ago there would have been no hope for them, went into complete remission. Cox was among that two-thirds.

The new treatment involves tweaking a type of therapy called CAR-T that helps the immune system home in on cancer cells. Those tweaks appear to have made it more effective than its predecessor while also leading to fewer side effects, the study found.

In CAR-T therapy, doctors equip a patients own T-cells with a sensor that essentially sniffs out a protein on cancer cells, allowing them to glom onto the protein and then destroy the diseased cells. CAR-T therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat several types of blood cancer.

The altered T cells end up working like a heat-seeking missile, said study co-author Dr. Katayoun Rezvani, a professor of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

There were several drawbacks to CAR-T, including the time it took to make the revved up T cells which needed to be harvested from patients and then sent to a lab, their cost, and most important, the possibility of life-threatening side effects.

To try to make a cheaper, safer therapy that would potentially work for all patients, Rezvani and her colleagues switched from T-cells to a different type of immune cell, called natural killer cells.

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Natural killer cells are the best killers of virally infected and abnormal cells, she said. They can continue to patrol and recognize abnormal cells.

There were several advantages to the natural killer cells, not the least of which was that, unlike T cells, they wouldnt make the patients sick by spewing out a flood of inflammatory proteins, leading to a severe condition called a cytokine storm. Another big advantage was that the natural killer cells from one patient could be given to another without any tissue matching. That meant that such cells from healthy donors or from donated umbilical cord blood could be banked and ready to use at any time.

Presumably, this would cut down on the wait time and the costs of the therapy, because the treatments werent being tailor-made for each individual patient.

Rezvani and her colleagues genetically modified the natural killer cells to have a receptor (the R in CAR) for a protein that is on the surface of the cancer cells they were targeting. The receptor would lock onto the protein and then the cell would do its work.

The researchers also tweaked the natural killer cells in two other ways. Unlike T cells which live for a long time, natural killer cells normally have a lifespan of just a couple of weeks, so the researchers added a growth factor that would keep them around for a lot longer. And as a precaution, they also inserted a switch that would allow the researchers to kill off the altered cells if they became too abundant.

Rezvani and her colleagues tested the new treatment in 11 blood cancer patients. When the patients were checked two months after treatment, seven had no signs of cancer while one other showed improvement but not complete remission. The other three had no response to the treatment.

Cox was the eighth patient to receive the new treatment, and initially had misgivings.

I didnt have any other options, Cox, who received the treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said. But it was scary knowing I would be No. 8 and would be getting the biggest dose.

The trial had been set up to start with a low dose, and then wait to see if there were any serious side effects. If not, the plan was to increase the dose in later patients.

Coxs years of chemotherapy made him worry about possible side effects. But it was probably the easiest thing Ive ever done, he said.

The researchers themselves werent sure what to expect. We were amazed at the safety, Rezvani said. And it didnt seem to matter what dose we gave. This truly is a living drug. It gets inside of the patients body and starts growing and attacking the cancer cells.

Larger studies are needed, but if the treatment which has been licensed to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. lives up to its early promise, Rezvani hopes to try it on other cancers, such as ones that affect the brain and the breasts.

The response of the patients in the new study is impressive, said Dr. David Porter, the director of cell therapy and transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. I think this is a major advance in the field of targeted cellular therapy.

Moreover, the natural killer treatments dont seem to have the same life-threatening complications as the original CAR-T therapy, Porter said in an email. Porter was involved with previous CAR-T research, but was not involved with this trial.

But, Porter cautioned, the study included a very small number of patients.

Cox wasnt sure what to expect when he went to be checked two months after receiving his treatment. The news was better than he could have imagined: there was no sign of his cancer.

I did a lot of crying, but they were happy tears, he said. I still get emotional when I talk about it.

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Immune therapy tweak offers new hope to blood cancer patients - NBC News

Stem Cell Therapy Market Trends and Growth, Outlook, Research, Trends and Forecast to 2025 – Instant Tech News

Stem Cell Therapy Market: Snapshot

Of late, there has been an increasing awareness regarding the therapeutic potential of stem cells for management of diseases which is boosting the growth of the stem cell therapy market. The development of advanced genome based cell analysis techniques, identification of new stem cell lines, increasing investments in research and development as well as infrastructure development for the processing and banking of stem cell are encouraging the growth of the global stem cell therapy market.

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One of the key factors boosting the growth of this market is the limitations of traditional organ transplantation such as the risk of infection, rejection, and immunosuppression risk. Another drawback of conventional organ transplantation is that doctors have to depend on organ donors completely. All these issues can be eliminated, by the application of stem cell therapy. Another factor which is helping the growth in this market is the growing pipeline and development of drugs for emerging applications. Increased research studies aiming to widen the scope of stem cell will also fuel the growth of the market. Scientists are constantly engaged in trying to find out novel methods for creating human stem cells in response to the growing demand for stem cell production to be used for disease management.

It is estimated that the dermatology application will contribute significantly the growth of the global stem cell therapy market. This is because stem cell therapy can help decrease the after effects of general treatments for burns such as infections, scars, and adhesion. The increasing number of patients suffering from diabetes and growing cases of trauma surgery will fuel the adoption of stem cell therapy in the dermatology segment.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Overview

Also called regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy encourages the reparative response of damaged, diseased, or dysfunctional tissue via the use of stem cells and their derivatives. Replacing the practice of organ transplantations, stem cell therapies have eliminated the dependence on availability of donors. Bone marrow transplant is perhaps the most commonly employed stem cell therapy.

Osteoarthritis, cerebral palsy, heart failure, multiple sclerosis and even hearing loss could be treated using stem cell therapies. Doctors have successfully performed stem cell transplants that significantly aid patients fight cancers such as leukemia and other blood-related diseases.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Key Trends

The key factors influencing the growth of the global stem cell therapy market are increasing funds in the development of new stem lines, the advent of advanced genomic procedures used in stem cell analysis, and greater emphasis on human embryonic stem cells. As the traditional organ transplantations are associated with limitations such as infection, rejection, and immunosuppression along with high reliance on organ donors, the demand for stem cell therapy is likely to soar. The growing deployment of stem cells in the treatment of wounds and damaged skin, scarring, and grafts is another prominent catalyst of the market.

On the contrary, inadequate infrastructural facilities coupled with ethical issues related to embryonic stem cells might impede the growth of the market. However, the ongoing research for the manipulation of stem cells from cord blood cells, bone marrow, and skin for the treatment of ailments including cardiovascular and diabetes will open up new doors for the advancement of the market.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Market Potential

A number of new studies, research projects, and development of novel therapies have come forth in the global market for stem cell therapy. Several of these treatments are in the pipeline, while many others have received approvals by regulatory bodies.

In March 2017, Belgian biotech company TiGenix announced that its cardiac stem cell therapy, AlloCSC-01 has successfully reached its phase I/II with positive results. Subsequently, it has been approved by the U.S. FDA. If this therapy is well- received by the market, nearly 1.9 million AMI patients could be treated through this stem cell therapy.

Another significant development is the granting of a patent to Israel-based Kadimastem Ltd. for its novel stem-cell based technology to be used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other similar conditions of the nervous system. The companys technology used for producing supporting cells in the central nervous system, taken from human stem cells such as myelin-producing cells is also covered in the patent.

Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Regional Outlook

The global market for stem cell therapy can be segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America emerged as the leading regional market, triggered by the rising incidence of chronic health conditions and government support. Europe also displays significant growth potential, as the benefits of this therapy are increasingly acknowledged.

Asia Pacific is slated for maximum growth, thanks to the massive patient pool, bulk of investments in stem cell therapy projects, and the increasing recognition of growth opportunities in countries such as China, Japan, and India by the leading market players.

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Global Stem Cell Therapy Market: Competitive Analysis

Several firms are adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships, apart from product development with a view to attain a strong foothold in the global market for stem cell therapy.

Some of the major companies operating in the global market for stem cell therapy are RTI Surgical, Inc., MEDIPOST Co., Ltd., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., NuVasive, Inc., Pharmicell Co., Ltd., Anterogen Co., Ltd., JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., and Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l.

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4-year-old thalassemia surivor meets lifesaver for first time – Devdiscourse

This World Cancer Day, Bengaluru witnessed a heart-warming moment where a thalassemia survivor met her lifesaver for the first time. A techie from the city had donated his blood stem cells giving a second chance at life to the four-year-old Shia from West Bengal suffering from thalassemia.

The meeting was organized by the non-profit organization DKMS BMST Foundation India, an international blood stem cell donor registry. Shia flew for the first time and came here to meet her lifesaver Debojyoti, a 26-year-old techie, who donated his blood stem cells so that she could receive a second chance at life.

Expressing his emotions on World Cancer Day on Tuesday, Debojyoti told reporters he had registered himself as a potential stem cell donor in 2016 and after a year of registration he was found to be a match. "I did not know the details of the patient to whom my blood stem cells will be given but now when I met her after all these years, I went numb. Being able to save a life is a feeling beyond words. It can only be experienced-cant be described," he said.

When this family residing in Kolkata found their daughter suffering from thalassemia, they researched the treatments available. Sharing their experience, Shias father Saifulla said due to lack of awareness about the blood stem cell transplant procedure they were turned down by the local doctors.

"We were told that our daughter will need blood transfusion throughout her life to survive, we were devastated but kept doing our research. We got a ray of hope after meeting Dr. Revathi Raj based in Chennai and she assured us of treatment available in the form of a blood stem cell transplant, he said. That when the journey to find an unrelated blood stem cell match began for the family.

With the help of doctors, they were lucky to find a match for their daughter within a year and she underwent a blood stem cell transplantation. Director of DKMS-BMST Dr. Latha Jagannathan said many patients suffering from blood cancer and other blood disorders need a blood stem cell transplant to survive.

"Unfortunately, the majority of patients are unable to receive a transplant due to the unavailability of a matching blood stem cell donor", she said. The registry DKMS-BMST at present has over 40,000 registered potential blood stem cell donors.

"We will work hard that this number will increase considerably over the coming years", she added. Pediatric hematologist, oncologist, and BMT specialist at Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Dr. Pooja Prakash Mallya said every five minutes someone in India is diagnosed with blood cancer and other blood disorders. And many are not able to find a match within their families and hence need an unrelated donor.

This gap can be bridged only when more and more people from different ethnicities in India are a part of the donor registry maintained by organizations such as DKMS-BMST, she said. CEO of DKMS BMST Foundation India Patrick Paul said mostly, for blood cancer patients a blood stem cell transplant is key for survival.

"Each one of us should register as a potential stem cell donor and encourage our near and dear ones to register themselves too", he said. As per protocols, the identity of both the donor and recipient is kept anonymous for a period of two years and thereafter upon interest, they can be introduced to each other.

Ever since I donated my blood stem cells, I was looking forward to meeting the recipient. I only knew her age and today I am glad that I could see her and meet her family, Debojyoti said. Today, Shia is leading a normal life and is a hale and hearty girl who likes to draw and color and is probably not even completely aware of the condition she was in, a DKMS-BMST statement said.

All she knows is Debojyoti is a friend who gifted her something she would cherish forever. DKMS-BMST is a joint venture of two non-profit organizations: BMST (Bangalore Medical Services Trust) and DKMS, one of the largest international blood stem cell donor registries in the world.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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4-year-old thalassemia surivor meets lifesaver for first time - Devdiscourse

Cell Harvesting Market Report On Competitive Landscape, Key Players, Future Developments and Growth 2025 – Dagoretti News

Global Cell Harvesting Market report has been produced with the most up-to-date insight and analysis to give maximum benefits to the Healthcare IT industry. The report can be used by both established and new players in the industry for a complete understanding of the market. Besides, this document also includes historic data, present and future market trends, environment, technological innovation, upcoming technologies and the technical progress in the related industry. The scope of this Cell Harvesting Market research report involves industry research, customer insights, market sizing and forecast, competitive analysis, market entry strategy, pricing trends, sustainability trends, innovation trends, technology evolution, and distribution channel assessment.

The Global Cell Harvesting Market is expected to reach USD 387.9 Million by 2025, from USD 196.9 Million in 2017 growing at a CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. Some of the major players operating in the global cell harvesting market are PerkinElmer Inc, Bertin, Tomtec, Terumo BCT, HynoDent AG, Avita Medical, Argos Technologies, SP Industries, Teleflex Incorporated, Arthrex, Inc, Thomas Scientific, Brand GMBH, Brandel, Cox Scientific, Connectorate, Scinomix, Adstec.

Global Cell Harvesting Market,By Type (Manual Cell Harvesters and Automated Cell Harvesters), By Application (Biopharmaceutical Application, Stem Cell Research and other Applications), By End Users (Hospitals, Ambulatory Centers, Clinics, Community Healthcare, Others), By Geography (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2025

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Market Definition:Global Cell Harvesting Market

This market report defines the market trends and forecast the upcoming opportunities and threats of the cell harvesting market in the next 8 years. Cell harvesting is extracting the cells either from bone marrow and peripheral blood cells and culturing the cells in the culture dish containing nutrient media. Cell harvesting is used in the cell therapy as well as in gene therapy. University of California developed a cure for bubble baby disease for new born babies by using the cell harvesting in stem cells and gene therapy. Moreover, Asterias developed the stem cell therapy to regain the upper body motor function. University of California, Irvine developed the stem cell therapy to destroy the breast cancer cells.. Now a days cell harvesting is also used in the animal research and development. Cell Harvesting is also used in may research labs for in-Vitro testing. In September 2016, Terumo BCT collaborated with Cognate Bioservices for developing the immunotherapies and other related products like cell therapy products. These innovations in the cell harvesting market is notably attributing towards its increasing demand at the global pace. Further, its demand is likely to gain momentum over the forecast period.

Major Market Drivers and Restraints:

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Market Segmentation:Global Cell Harvesting Market

The global cell harvesting market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of cell harvesting market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and South America.

Research Methodology:Global Cell Harvesting Market

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Demand Side Primary Contributors: Doctors, Surgeons, Medical Consultants, Nurses, Hospital Buyers, Group Purchasing Organizations, Associations, Insurers, Medical Payers, Healthcare Authorities, Universities, Technological Writers, Scientists, Promoters, and Investors among others.

Supply Side Primary Contributors: Product Managers, Marketing Managers, C-Level Executives, Distributors, Market Intelligence, Regulatory Affairs Managers among others

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Four-year-old girl meets stem cell donor for the first time in Bengaluru – The Hindu

It was an emotional moment on Tuesday for Debojyoti, a 26-year-old software professional from Bengaluru, when he met four-year-old Shia from Kolkata, recipient of his blood stem cells.

Mr. Debojyoti, who came to the rescue of the little girl by donating his stem cells, met her for the first time at a meeting organised by a non-profit organisation, DKMS-BMST Foundation India, an international blood stem cell donor registry in the city.

Thanks to the donation, Shia daughter of primary school teacher Saifulla Kobir and homemaker Sajida Kobir has been cured of thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder. When this family residing in Kolkata found that their daughter was suffering from thalassemia, they researched about the treatments available. Sharing his experience Mr. Kobir said: Due to lack of awareness about the blood stem cell transplant procedure we were turned down by the local doctors. When we were told that our daughter will need blood transfusion throughout her life to survive, we were devastated.

We got a ray of hope after meeting Dr. Revathi Raj in Chennai and she assured us that there is a treatment available in the form of a blood stem cell transplant. That is when our journey to find an unrelated blood stem cell match began, said an emotional Mr. Kobir.

With the help of doctors, they were lucky to find a match for their daughter within a year, and she underwent a blood stem cell transplantation in Chennai.

Mr. Debojyoti said, I registered myself as a potential stem cell donor in 2016 and after a year of registration I was found to be a match. As per protocols, the identity of the donor and recipient are kept anonymous for two years, and thereafter they can be introduced to each other.

Latha Jagannathan, director of DKMS-BMST, said many patients suffering from blood cancer and other blood disorders need a blood stem cell transplant to survive. Unfortunately, a majority of patients are unable to receive a transplant due to the unavailability of a matching blood stem cell donor. Their registry currently has over 40,000 registered potential blood stem cell donors.

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Four-year-old girl meets stem cell donor for the first time in Bengaluru - The Hindu

4-year-old thalassemia surivor meets lifesaver for first time – Yahoo India News

Bengaluru, Feb 4 (PTI) This World Cancer Day, Bengaluru witnessed a heart-warming moment where a thalassemia survivor met her lifesaver for the first time.

A techie from the city had donated his blood stem cells giving a second chance at life to the four-year-old Shia from West Bengal suffering from thalassemia.

The meeting was organised by the non-profit organisation DKMS BMST Foundation India, an international blood stem cell donor registry.

Shia flew for the first time and came here to meet her lifesaver Debojyoti, a 26-year-old techie, who donated his blood stem cells so that she could receive a second chance at life.

Expressing his emotions on World Cancer Day on Tuesday, Debojyoti told reporters he had registered himself as a potential stem cell donor in 2016 and after a year of registration he was found to be a match.

'I did not know the details of the patient to whom my blood stem cells will be given but now when I met her after all these years, I went numb. Being able to save a life is a feeling beyond words. It can only be experienced-cant be described,' he said.

When this family residing in Kolkata found their daughter suffering from thalassemia, they researched about the treatments available.

Sharing their experience, Shias father Saifulla said due to lack of awareness about the blood stem cell transplant procedure they were turned down by the local doctors.

'We were told that our daughter will need blood transfusion throughout her life to survive, we were devastated but kept doing our research. We got a ray of hope after meeting Dr Revathi Raj based in Chennai and she assured us of treatment available in the form of a blood stem cell transplant, he said.

Thats when the journey to find an unrelated blood stem cell match began for the family.

With the help of doctors, they were lucky to find a match for their daughter within a year and she underwent a blood stem cell transplantation.

Director of DKMS-BMST Dr Latha Jagannathan said many patients suffering from blood cancer and other blood disorders need a blood stem cell transplant to survive.

'Unfortunately, majority of patients are unable to receive a transplant due to the unavailability of a matching blood stem cell donor', she said.

The registry DKMS-BMST at present has over 40,000 registered potential blood stem cell donors.

'We will work hard that this number will increase considerably over the coming years', she added.

Paediatric hematologist, oncologist and BMT specialist at Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, Dr Pooja Prakash Mallya said every five minutes someone in India is diagnosed with blood cancer and other blood disorders. And many are not able to find a match within their families and hence need an unrelated donor.

This gap can be bridged only when more and more people from different ethnicities in India are a part of the donor registry maintained by organisations such as DKMS-BMST, she said.

CEO of DKMS BMST Foundation India Patrick Paul said mostly, for blood cancer patients a blood stem cell transplant is key for survival.

'Each one of us should register as a potential stem cell donor and encourage our near and dear ones to register themselves too', he said.

As per protocols, the identity of both the donor and recipient are kept anonymous for a period of two years and thereafter upon interest they can be introduced to each other.

Ever since I donated my blood stem cells, I was looking forward to meeting the recipient. I only knew her age and today I am glad that I could see her and meet her family, Debojyoti said.

Today, Shia is leading a normal life and is a hale and hearty girl who likes to draw and colour and is probably not even completely aware of the condition she was in, a DKMS-BMST statement said.

All she knows is Debojyoti is a friend who gifted her something she would cherish forever.

DKMS-BMST is a joint venture of two non-profit organisations: BMST (Bangalore Medical Services Trust) and DKMS, one of the largest international blood stem cell donor registries in the world. PTI RS NVG NVG

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4-year-old thalassemia surivor meets lifesaver for first time - Yahoo India News

Huey Lewis May Never Perform Again. But He Refuses to Give Up – Rolling Stone

Huey Lewis can pinpoint the exact moment his entire world fell apart. It was January 2018 and he was in Dallas to play a corporate gig with his longtime band the News. Opening act Pat Green was entertaining the audience and Lewis was taking the Elvis route to the stage through the kitchen.

I heard this huge noise, he says. It sounded like warfare was going on in the other room. I yelled, What is that? They said, Its just Pat, the opening act. I put in my in-ear [monitors] in and couldnt hear anything.

He hoped things would improve once he got onto the stage, but when the band kicked into the opening song, the sound only got worse. I thought the bass amp had blown a speaker, he says. I just heard this horrible noise and I couldnt find pitch or even hear myself. It was an absolute nightmare. The worst thing. Just horrible.

The last time anything like this happened was back in 1987, right at the apex of Lewis fame, when songs like Doing It All for My Baby and Hip to Be Square were all over Top 40 radio. One day, out of nowhere, the hearing in his right ear completely vanished. I felt like I had been in a swimming pool and my ear was full, he says. I couldnt shake it out or pop my ears. I went to all kinds of doctors and an EMT finally said to me, Get used to it. I said, Get used to it? Im a musician!'

The doctor explained to him that the hearing was unlikely to return but that great artists like Brian Wilson got by just fine with hearing in only one ear, since the body has a remarkable way of adjusting. Lewis was ultimately diagnosed with Menieres disease.

Its a syndrome based on symptoms, the singer says. If you have fullness in your ears, vertigo, and tinnitus, they call it Menieres, but they dont know what it is.

As predicted, Lewis quickly adjusted to life with one ear and went about his life and career until that horrible night in Dallas when his left ear dropped out too. He went to the House Ear Institute, the Stanford Ear Institute, and the Mayo Clinic to meet with the most renowned hearing specialists in the world. When they were unable to help, he visited a chiropractor and an acupuncturist, and even instituted an all-organic, low-fat, caffeine-free, essential-oils diet.

Nothing worked, and he was forced to cancel all his future tour dates. Singing had been at the center of Lewis life since he was a teenager and despair quickly set in. I was suicidal, he says. There was literally a roaring tinnitus in my head. I just laid in bed. There was nothing I could do. Id just lay in bed and contemplate my demise.

With the help of his children and close friends, he slowly pulled himself out of his misery.

It turns out you can get used to almost anything, he says. I told myself things like, At least I dont have pancreatic cancer '

He also realized that his condition was more complicated than he originally thought. Some days he was essentially deaf, but other days he heard well enough to engage in conversations. He created a scale of one to 10 to explain it to others. Ten is what it was before this happened, he says. Im at a five now right now, which means I can hear speech fine with hearing aids in. Under a three, I cant even hear the phone ring. (During the course of an hour-long conversation, Lewis hears me just fine and never asks me to repeat even a single question.)

But even on days where hes a five and can engage in conversation, listening to music is a very different story. Music is much harder to listen to than speech because even one note occurs in all frequencies with harmonics and overtones and undertones, he says. I call it distortion. When I hear a bass part that goes bump, bump, bump, I just hear [imitates the sound of loud, crunchy static]. I fight for pitch and I cant find it. If I cant find pitch, I cant sing. Its horrible.

I was suicidal. Id just lay in bed and contemplate my demise.

The timing of all this is particularly cruel because when it happened, Lewis was hard at work on the first album of original Huey Lewis and the News songs since 2001s Plan B. New music hadnt been a priority for him in quite a while. His most recent Top 40 hit was 1991s It Hit Me Like a Hammer, and he had more than enough classics to fill out a set list, but he still felt like it was time to try again.

As a storyteller, you need new stories every now and then, he says. But we were doing 80 shows a year and we had lives, so it didnt seem like there was time to make another record. Also, a real problem was the songs. Were not a prolific bunch as it is, especially since weve written a bunch of stuff and its hard to write more. Its harder now. I cant have a song with rock & roll in the title. I already did that!

But slowly over the years, prior to his hearing loss, he recorded the seven songs for his upcoming LP Weather, in stores February 14th. The label initially wanted to add more songs [from earlier points in my career], says Lewis. I said to them, Why poison the water? This is a body of work. Why contaminate it? Who cares about the number of songs? And if its just seven songs because I cant sing anymore, thats a better story! And Kanyes record just has seven songs. Case closed!'

Lead-off single Her Love Is Killin Me was written by Lewis and former News guitarist Chris Hayes about 25 years ago. It just didnt work for some reason, he says. We tired it onstage in all sorts of different arrangements and it never worked. Two years ago, [rhythm guitarist and saxophonist] Johnny [Colla] had an idea for a horn chart and we re-worked it and it happened. Sometimes it takes the simplest things to get a song right.

Another song, While Were Young, was written by News bassist John Pierce along with Colla and Lewis. The vocal was originally cut in Lewis San Diego condo and the song was pieced together by various members of the band over email. We never sat in the studio to make that one, says Lewis. We assembled it. And some of the vocals on the finished version were cut in my living room on that first day.

One of the Boys came about when producer Dave Cobb asked Lewis to write a song for a Willie Nelson project that never came to fruition. Now I had this song for Willie, says Lewis. I imagined it as his story, but suddenly I realized it was actually my story. John McFee, who worked with me in [my old band] Clover and is now in the Doobie Brothers, played pedal steel and we finished the tune.

Lewis now finds himself in the unusual position of having a new record that he cant tour to support. But hes filming a documentary about his life (Were going to kick Linda Rondstadts ass! he jokes) and trying to bring his musical The Heart of Rock & Roll to Broadway. Its the fictional story of a struggling rock singer who gives up on his dreams of stardom to work in a cardboard-box factory, where he falls in love with his boss daughter. When his group gets an offer to open up for a huge band on tour, he has decide if it makes sense to leave his new life behind and give music one last chance. Every song, of course, is by Huey Lewis and the News.

The musical played to packed houses in San Diego last year, but bringing it to Broadway has proved to be challenging. Its an interesting game, Broadway, Lewis says. The theater owners own all the cards and you have to find the right one. It cant be too big or too small. Union-wise, you need a certain number of musicians. Its quite complicated, but were navigating all that and hopefully well go to Broadway this year.

Even with all these projects occupying his time, along with golf and spending time with his two kids, Lewis still yearns to sing onstage again one day. On days where hes a five or higher, he sings into his computer just to keep his voice up. At two points in the past year, he had so many great days in a row that he booked a rehearsal space with his band just to see what would happen. The News flew in from all over the country, but both times his hearing dropped down below a two shortly before they could all get in the room together.

There have been brief moments of triumph, though. In October 2018, Lewis went to St. Andrews, Scotland, for a golf tournament, and he was having such a great hearing day that he went onstage with a band that was playing there and sang Hip to Be Square. I was able to do it because it was as tiny place, not an arena, and the band was very quiet, he says. It felt amazing though. I was so happy.

In theory, Lewis could play a full set on a good hearing day under the right conditions, but the logistics make it hard to pull off. Id need to book the show a month in advance, he says, and I never know what Ill be like in a couple days since it fluctuates so much.

His former production manager now oversees the Buddy Holly hologram tour and theyve joked about using the technology to get him back on the road. They had to use a model to ape Buddy Holly, he says with a laugh. Id be the perfect model for Huey Lewis! I could come on between tunes and do shtick. The crew loves the idea.

Thats obviously out of the question, and Lewis also rejects any idea that involves using pre-recorded vocals as part of a live show. But whatever happens going forward, hes refusing to give up hope that one day hell heal. The inner ear is one of the things that medical science knows the least about, he says. Its cased in bone and theres no surgery. But Im taking stem-cell stuff and trying everything. With my hearing always fluctuating, my body is doing something itself. What I have to do is stay healthy, exercise, and hope my body will slowly take care of itself.

And if he never gets his hearing back and therefore never plays live again, Lewis says hell be OK.

I have a great life, he says. Im a lucky guy. No matter what happens, Im a lucky guy. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. But I am.

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Huey Lewis May Never Perform Again. But He Refuses to Give Up - Rolling Stone

Kochi to host first ever global meet on Integrative Oncology – Onmanorama

Kochi: Promising to showcase breakthrough findings in cancer care, the first ever integrative medicine global oncology conference will be held at Hotel Le Meridian in Kochi on February 8 and 9, 2020.

The International Conference on Integrative Oncology 2020 (ICIO 2020) is being organised by the Global Homeopathy Foundation (GHF) which will be attended by top oncologists from India and abroad representing medical, surgical, radiation, haematology, paediatric and gynaecology specialties.

Dr. Sreevals Menon, Managing Trustee of GHF, said that there will be four moderated panel discussions at the conference with AYUSH/TCAM (Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine) oncology experts including Dr Michael Dixon, Chair to the Prince's Foundation of Integrated Health U.K. set up by Prince of Wales; Dr Manfred Mueller, US; Dr Ioannis Papasotiriou, Greece; Dr Issac Mathai, Bangalore; Luke Coutinho, celebrity onco-nutritionist and Aliya Almoayed from Bahrain, taking part. The ICIO 2020 is expected to be attended by over a thousand delegates from about 30 countries, he said.

Specialists from Germany, USA, UK, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, India and others, engaged in integrative and clinical oncology, fundamental research, AYUSH/TCAM -based oncology in all major disciplines shall present about 25 key scientific papers.

The event will expose doctors, researchers, medical scholars and oncology enthusiasts among public to novel possibilities in integration of different oncology care streams. The disciplines in focus in this regard include AYUSH/TCAM sciences and conventional medicine in oncology, onco-nutrition, pharmacognosy, psycho-oncology, immunotherapy oncology, onco-diagnostics, stem cell therapy, Mistletoe & Iscador therapies, onco-physiotherapy and onco-nursing, among others, Dr. Menon added.

ICIO2020 shall also be inspired by special orations which are expected to stimulate strategies leading to formation of Integrative Oncology units in leading cancer care centres nationwide. A vision of the conference is to set up a major national institute of international standards in Integrative Oncology synchronising Integrative Medicine (IM) with other therapies, with a lead role for IM at multiple levels.

ICIO 2020 will also have a dedicated yoga hall for delegates to register and get training from international experts in clinical yoga therapy in 12 major diseases. The event will also witness a cancer survivors meet. In a pioneering session on psycho-oncology, Dr. Surendran, Ozan Bahcivan and Dr. E Vidhubala will address the delegates which will be co-ordinated by Dr. Veenavani Nallepali.

GHF is the most distinguished non-profit Homeopathy organisation in India, a global institution that delivers the benefits of Homeopathy. Operating as an advisory body with its affiliates and members in over 15 countries, GHF has organised major national and international conferences, led delegations of Homeopaths to various countries, routinely conducted charitable humanitarian activities and has supported integration of medicine systems, being co-organizer of three ICIO so far.

ICIO 2020 is held in association with Central Health & FW Ministry, AYUSH/TCAM Ministry, all AYUSH/TCAM research councils and State Governments of Kerala and Maharashtra, and National AYUSH Mission.

The last date for registration to attend the conference is February 6, 2020. One can visit http://www.icio2020.com for details and registration.

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Kochi to host first ever global meet on Integrative Oncology - Onmanorama