Time Magazine USA - Features Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Disease

From the Magazine Time Bonus Section January 2006: Global Business

A Stem-Cell Prospect for Ailing Hearts

Valentin Fulga
By MATTHEW KALMAN/JERUSALEM

Posted Sunday, Dec. 04, 2005

Valentin Fulga dropped out of medicine twice to pursue more-challenging research, but now it looks as though his change of heart could result in saving the lives of thousands--perhaps millions--of cardiac patients. Dr. Fulga, 47, is the scientific brain behind a new treatment for heart disease that is exciting the medical world even though it has yet to undergo full clinical testing.

More than 60 people in need of heart transplants or major surgery have been treated using the new procedure. That's a small number, but the results are nonetheless stunning: all of them improved. That's why TheraVitae, the privately owned company set up by Fulga and his Thailand-based partner Robert Clark, is being hailed as a potential giant.

read more...