Coronavirus in UAE: Patients who got stem cell therapy improved faster than others

Patients in the United Arab Emirates who received stem cell therapy improved from coronavirus faster than those who only received conventional treatment, according to health officials, adding that clinical improvement was shown within four days of administering the therapy.

“The treatment has secured intellectual property rights protection, which paves the way for sharing it at a wider scale to benefit more patients. Initial results are promising after it was administered in the UAE to 73 COVID-19 patients who moderately or severely ill before treatment. They responded very well which means it is an effective therapy,” Dr. Fatima al-Kaabi, head of hematology and oncology at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, said on Wednesday.

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The UAE first announced its newly developed stem-cell treatment last month, saying that it did not cure patients of coronavirus, but helped patients overcome symptoms of the disease.

Seriously ill patients who received stem cell therapy needed only six days to recover, which is less than the time taken by normal patients to recover who spent an average of 22 days in hospital.

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“All the patients who were treated with stem cells, recovered in less than seven days, three times faster than those treated with conventional methods,” al-Kaabi added.

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According to Dr. Al Kaabi, 67 percent of the patients receiving stem cell therapy were completely cured.

The research team behind the UAE’s Stem Cells Projected also looked for side effects and monitored fatality rates within 28 days, while evaluating the reaction of the patients’ immune systems, the severity of illness, and watching for any blood clotting.

Al-Kaabi said that the research team is currently working on several experiments in preparation for the third stage which involves determining the ideal dose and how effective their treatment is for other respiratory diseases like asthma.

The research team concluded by saying that they have secured intellectual property rights protection for their treatment, which would pave the way for sharing it at a wider scale to benefit more patients.