Frequently Asked Questions

TargaCell is an early-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on repairing organ damage caused by disease; thus, reversing this injury, recovering function, and restoring quality of life. We achieve this through improved non-invasive, targeted delivery of regenerative cells to specific organs, thereby enhancing the repair of damaged tissue.

Everybody knows somebody who has had a heart attack! TargaCell was founded to develop a non-invasive stem cell delivery platform to repair damaged hearts and control the damaging immune responses that slow down repair and the complications seen in COVID-19 as well as inflammatory syndromes.

• TargaCell's platform consists of unique protein biologics, naturally occurring or chemically modified blood plasma proteins manufactured using well-established, validated tested industrial protocols. There are two proteins: TCC 100 and TCC 200.
• TargaCell is NOT a stem cell manufacturer but an organ-specific, stem cell DELIVERY company.
• Initially, TargaCell's therapeutic platform will be used to efficiently deliver stem cells that can repair damage caused by disease conditions in the heart, liver, and lungs. The development of other uses for TargaCell's protein biologics platform will follow.

The problem with current stem cell regenerative methods is that they deliver too few stem cells to the heart and do not allow them to stay long enough to repair the damaged tissue or restore heart function efficiently.

• TargaCell's protein biologic products solve these problems by directing or targeting 10x the number of stem cells to the heart, without a catheter, and causing them to stay there long enough to repair damaged tissue and restore function, as compared to the current inefficient stem cell delivery using heart catheter-based injection of stem cells into the heart wall or coronary vessels.
• The more stem cells are delivered, the more stem cells are retained, the faster the repair, and the more likely the treatment will achieve complete restoration of function for patients suffering a heart attack and prevent progression to heart failure.
• Current methods result in less than 1% delivery and retention of the stem cells injected into the heart wall. TargaCell's delivery methods enable 40-70% of the stem cells administered intravenously to be delivered to the heart wall.

These adult stem cells harvested or derived from adult tissues, blood, etc., after birth, can be derived from several tissues, including but not limited to bone marrow and umbilical cord blood.

• The stem cells used are either autologous or allogeneic:
  • Autologous means the source of the stem cells is the patient,
  • Allogeneic means the source of stem cells comes from another person, not the patient to be treated.
• CD34+ stem cells:
  • CD34+ stem cells are blood-forming or hematopoietic stem cells, which can also form blood vessels and other types of cells in the body.
  • Autologous CD34+ stem cells can be harvested directly from the bone marrow or blood after mobilizing or inducing them to move from the bone marrow into the blood using well-established clinical protocols.
  • Purified CD34+ stem cell populations are produced from these collections in a hospital cell therapy laboratory.
  • For preclinical validation studies, CD34+ stem cells will be purchased from commercial stem cell suppliers for validation and safety studies.
  • For clinical trials, CD34+ stem cells will be purified from the patient’s bone marrow and used in compliance with standard clinical treatment protocols or custom-manufactured in accordance with GMP regulations approved by the FDA.
• Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs):
  • MSCs are non-hematopoietic adult stem cells isolated from different sources that can differentiate into other types of cells in the body. These sources include but are not limited to, bone marrow, fat (adipose tissue), umbilical cord tissue (Wharton's Jelly), placenta, or amniotic fluid (the fluid surrounding a fetus).
  • MSCs can be allogeneic (from unrelated donors).
  • Allogeneic MSCs can be purchased from stem cell manufacturing companies or custom-manufactured by a stem cell company in accordance with GMP regulations approved by the FDA.
  • Autologous MSCs derived and grown from the patient's tissues may not be required for heart repair therapy. However, if needed, they can be produced in a hospital cell therapy laboratory.

TargaCell's simple therapeutic protocol for sending stem cells to the heart is:

• Intravenous TCC 100, followed by intravenous CD34+stem cells, sends these cells to the heart.
• While intravenous TCC 200, followed by intravenous MSCs, sends these cells to the heart.
• BOTH TCC 100 & 200 (protein biologics), administered intravenously, prevent or block the lungs & liver from trapping both types of stem cells!