Dr. Ra Jeong-chan, Chairman of RNL BIO and Nobel Prize nominee, has developed stem cell therapeutics

Last year(2011), two Koreans were within reach of the Nobel prize. Former Korean President Kim Dae-joong was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  But no Korean has ever been awarded an academic Nobel prize. This year, however, Korea had a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. 49 year-old Dr. Ra Jeong-chan of RNL BIO was made finalist for his accomplishments in adult stem cell innovation.

Dr. Ra developed the technology to purify stem cells from fat tissue and grow them in mass quantity. In many articles together with his large research team, he has demonstrated that stem cells isolated from patient’s own tissue can be used to successfully treat both injury and incurable diseases.

Last year, the Nobel committee issued its recommendation for Dr. Ra to receive a Nobel Prize. It was given to Karolinska Institute, a university in Stockholm, Sweden that makes the final decision and then awards the Prize in each category at a Gala event.

Dr. Ra recalled “Last February two American doctors who are husband and wife told me that they had sent a letter to the Swedish university explaining how their daughter had recovered her hearing through a stem cell intervention created by Dr. Ra’s scientific advance.  The American doctors said that the Swedish were surprised by the incredible case of their daughter, and that this may have contributed to my nomination. As a Korean scientist I was very flattered by the nomination and moved by the letter of these physicians about their daughter.”

However, the Nobel prize of 2011 was awarded to Bruce A. Beutler (USA), Jules A. Hoffmann (Luxembourg) and Ralph M. Steinman (Canada) for their discoveries about the activation of innate immunity. None the less Dr. Ra achieved something to be named as a finalist.  Many Asians have now met Dr. Ra and heard about the exciting research of RNL BIO and its plans.

Dr. Ra Jeong-chan, Chairman of RNL BIO (Photo: Kris Min)

Hospitals that thought stem cell as a scam now ask for collaboration.

Q. How bad did you feel about the result?

A. To be a Nobel Prize winner, the nominee’s accomplishment should already benefit the human race. My stem cell therapeutics, while recognized in many English-language publications, has not been approved as a drug in South Korea.  This was obviously a drawback to my accomplishment.  As a South Korean firm, RNL BIO is not able to use its technology with its own nation’s citizens in South Korea, only in USA, Japan and China. I also felt Korean national power is not as strong as other countries that have many awardees. The USA and Japan seem to have government-level communications.

Q. Finalist is still amazing

A. The biggest gain is we get a general acceptance from academic and medical communities whether I am awarded a Prize or not. Widespread skepticism about adult stem cell research has made it very difficult to advance in this field.  Even physicians would ask “isn’t it a scam?” When we suggested clinical studies to hospitals they would avoid collaboration insisting on unfavorable conditions back then. Now they come back to ask to collaborate.  The Nobel nomination is a good indication of the standing of adult stem cell research.  There are still many skeptics, but the skepticism has been exposed as unscientific or even conflicts of interest by embryo and other cell researchers.  Now, people take the time to see how much research we have done and how much we have proven about our technology.

There has been lots of misunderstanding and prejudice in South Korea since the disgraced stem cell scientist Dr. Hwang Woo-suk South Korean achievement in stem cells is at a world leading level but the first regulatory approval was made last year. Stem cells have not been accepted as a medical technology in the nation where they are most advanced, and not allowed for human treatment.

Q. Even if Korean patients are able to get the stem cell banking service, they can’t get stem cell therapy. How can they be helped?

A. Just like the Nobel prizes, they go elsewhere. Around 15,000 people have signed up at our stem cell banking program. Over 6,000 out of those then traveled, e.g., to Japan or China, for therapy using their own stem cells.  Physicians and their families are among them. It goes by the word of mouth. To see is to believe, and after all our research, there is much to see.

For example, I believe based on our current data that it will be possible to stop Alzheimer’s disease using our technology. We will be entering human trials for that goal soon.

Q. What specific treatment is possible?

A. We all have a number of stem cells to maintain or repair our bodies, but the premise of our technology is that this amount is not enough to cure certain kinds of conditions. That’s why we multiply purified stem cells in large quantities. We developed that technology and have refined it to high precision. Our technology is not limited to the aging. All ages can benefit. Our clinical trials have, for example, included cerebral palsy and autism. The main focus though is on Alzheimer’s disease.

Q. Can stem cells cure Alzheimer’s?

A. I can’t say 100% now but am confident that 90% is possible. For the past two years, we have collaborated with Seoul National University’s renowned Pharmacology department. We had a very promising result in animal models. As an aging society deepens, governments need to do something. There is no cure or even any real palliative care for Alzheimer’s disease yet. So we plan to initiate a major clinical trial this year and expect positive results in two years.

Dr. Ra also mentioned about new development of anticancer therapy that can kill cancer cells and prevent them from relapse when oncolytic virus is infused with stem cells.

Q. Stem cells are like a cure-all drug?

A. By 2040, the average life span is expected as 92. My stem cell technology may extend it to 120. Infused stem cells can’t extend life unnaturally, but there is much evidence to show that they can restore it.

Q. Same treatment for each disease?

A. We have the same high standards for manufacturing processes to produce the optimal therapeutic agent, a patient’s own stem cells.  Each specific disease needs optimal treatment modalities, including the best delivery of those cells where appropriate. The most important thing is collaborating with physician specialists. As to hereditary genetic disease, cure may be impossible. Sometimes, the best result is an improvement. Degenerative disease is targeted, though, for cure.

Q. How is your technology accepted to medical community?

A. My study of the safety of autologous stem cells was published in Stem Cells and Development last February. The Journal was so impressed by the study that they invited professors from Duke University, Tulane University, and others to write a special editorial review of my paper.  In that review, these professors described my safety procedures as the ideal model for studying safety in human use of stem cells.  World stem cell societies and American doctors have peer-reviewed and published our results over and over again. In the Journal of Translational Medicine, we made the first report that stem cells cured an auto immune disease in humans.

Stem Cell Therapeutics should be admitted as a new medical technology like herbal medicine

Q. What do you expect from the South Korean government?

A. The Korean health system has been based on that of the USA and other counties rather than on our own. Current Korean drug regulation is based on existing pharmaceuticals and chemical drugs. That simply will not work for regulating stem cell interventions.  Autologous stem cells are prepared for only one patient. It is nonsense to think that any organization will ever be able to create a large, phase 3 clinical trials with a large number of subjects?  Our drug regulation should be improved and changed along with our new era of personalized medicine. Stem cells share similarity with the new and the old: herbal medicine.  The problem is that standards that are not appropriate for stem cells are being used to evaluate stem cells anyway.  We must help develop new rules.

Q. Plan this year?

A. To be objectively accepted, I will focus on human studies and continue to publish more and better articles.  At RNL BIO we plan to prove the performance of our technology by encouraging smart licensing deals and royalties rather than sales of banking. I also hope to find a way for physicians to help their patients with autoimmune or any other diseases with economical syringe methods in stem cell therapy.

Q. I heard that you have received stem cell shots in a vast number

A. I wanted to test it on my body to prove safety. So I was the first who received stem cell in February 2008. I believe that the ethical scientist, where possible, should conduct the first human studies on himself. Effectiveness was not my first goal. Friends and family were concerned about cancer and would try to stop me. But now not only have we proven that there is no risk of tumors, we have proven efficacy. And I too have benefitted. I have had atopic dermatitis since very younger age. It is improved. In the past I was tired with frequent foreign business trips but now I don’t feel fatigue even if I travel abroad over 10 days a month.

Q. Do stem cells maintain your health?

A. I exercise – mount climbing 3-4 a week. I try not to be stressed out. To reach and to maintain the natural life span may not be achieved solely by stem cell. The body condition should be maintained well. In fact, studies may eventually show that stem cells work best as complementary medicine in a good lifestyle. Stem cells may not work as well if the body condition is very bad.