I am proud to announce that four years constant battle for research of the effect of stem cells on the knee and hip osteoarthritis has come to an end. Last week we received the approval from the Health Canada, and we officially start running this study.
This would be the first study in North America that has been approved by a Federal organization in charge of Public Health. You may have heard about this organization and now wondering the impact of their approval. Health Canada is the Federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health while respecting individual choices and circumstances. For people who do not live in Canada and still do not know the importance of this organization, would be interesting to know The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Department of Health Canada (Health Canada) as comparable to each other.

Briefly, in this study, that I (Dr. Ramin Safakish) would be the principal investigator, we plan to learn about the SAFETY of injection of stem cell that was separated from fat tissues of the same person, into their hip or knee joints. Of course, this is not the first time, and this practice is happening in the last 15 years all over the globe. What is unique about our investigation is the type of stem cells and very new technique of safely separating them from the fat tissue. The technique is "patent pending," and there would be no public announcement about the detail of this innovative approach until the patent provided. Another fantastic aspect of our investigation is the fact that we had been patient. We comply with all the rules and regulations of Health Canada, and eventually, the permission to start this study was provided.

The study needs two separate procedure, liposuction and harvest of the fat tissues, and after separation of the stem cells, and bank them, one of 6 samples would be ready to inject back into the knee or hip joint. We would require volunteers in the next few weeks. To be a candidate for this study, you must be relatively healthy and do not use anti-inflammatory medications. You must suffer from knee or hip joint osteoarthritis that radiologist reports as moderate to moderately severe.

the advantage of being in the study would be:
- Retrieving your stem cells and bank at least five samples for future use.
- low cost of banking - less than $200 per year
- low cost of harvest, separate and inject the stem cells back - less than $3000, compared with the cost in the future when it is not part of the study. (about $10'000)
- One must remember that almost everyone works as a volunteer in this study, and the cost is only the chemicals and equipment need to separate the stem cells.

If you know someone who may be a candidate or you, yourself is interested; please keep checking the website and the information about the application for being considered as study subject would be posted soon.