By: Lieba Nesis
Having the opportunity to speak with Dr. Camillo Ricordi, one of the foremost experts on stem cell research, was nothing short of extraordinary. The 63-year-old scientist is director of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami. While his specialty is pancreatic islet transplantation for Type 1 Diabetes, when coronavirus came calling he sprung into action. Since January he has been working 16 hours a day 7 days a week to help his colleagues in China, Italy and the US battle the deadly affliction. He is now conducting a clinical trial with 24 patients to test the efficacy of stem cells in critically ill COVID-19 patients. The cells which are injected directly into the lung hone in on the injury and inflammation producing an army of 200 million cells to fight the complications of the illness. Here are excerpts of my conversation with this heroic doctor who is on the front lines of this drudgerous battle.
I began by asking Ricordi if he was caught unawares by the virus: to which he responded there were simulations and warnings from individuals such as Bill Gates since 2014. However, he acknowledged until you get hit you don’t think it’s real. Ricordi believes the virus emanated from a Wuhan lab which the NY Post and Newsweek claim was financially backed by the NIH, the CDC and the WHO, with Dr. Fauci contributing $7.4 million to the Wuhan Virology Lab. Ricordi cited the position of 200 scientists who had expressed concern of potentiating virus research in bats due to the possibility of a catastrophic leak.
Ricordi is in agreement with Nobel Prize Winner Luc Montagnier’s assertion that the virus was engineered by inserting genes from HIV into the coronavirus in a misfired bid to find an AIDS vaccine. The bat which has a high number and rate of virus mutations was the perfect medium for creating a marginally lethal, yet highly contagious disease. With the viruses’ high level of changeability Ricordi was dubious as to whether the precise source of origination would ever be discovered. He also expressed concern as to the efficacy of a vaccine, since it might protect against COVID-19 but be ineffectual when a different strain called COVID-20 and 21 appeared.
One of the tricks to fighting this disease is building a strong immune system through an anti-inflammatory diet and supplements such as Vitamin C, D, Omega 3, Zinc and Resveratrol, according to Ricordi. While he is optimistic the disease will diminish during the summer months, he is equally confident a second and stronger wave will hit in the winter if lockdown procedures are relaxed-akin to what has occurred in Japan where a second state of emergency was declared on April 6th. Ricordi mentioned that China destroyed a paper proving the virus was engineered replacing it with documentation confirming natural origin leading him to conclude the disease was in fact manipulated. Ricordi is of the opinion that a cocktail will eventually be used to successfully treat the disease. Remdesivir and Hydroxychloroquine, he conceded, show immense promise if used in correct dosages and at the incipient stages of the illness before the patient becomes critically ill.
Ricordi is the most often quoted expert on stem cell research where he has successfully prevented the acceleration of aging as well as kidney and eye disease in patients with Type 1 diabetes. He has currently diverted a number of resources from diabetes to the study of COVID-19 where he has injected his 4th critically ill COVID patient with stem cells in a double blind study-the results of which will be ready in two months. The cells which were retrieved from the placenta of a baby can be used to treat more than 10,000 patients.
The injections are administered intravenously with the natural first filter being the targeted area of the lungs (unlike in diabetes where a catheter has to be inserted to ensure cell transmission to the pancreas) The FDA approved his trial in a record week’s time and the 24 critically ill patients who receive the cells should see effects in weeks. Ricordi’s optimism is backed by science since colleagues in Israel reported zero deaths after using stem cells in 6 critically ill coronavirus patients. China had similarly favorable outcomes with no deaths in 80 seriously ill patients.
Furthermore, injecting the cells is a benign procedure that takes only 10 to 15 minutes to perform. Unlike other treatments, the availability of cells abound with more than 3.8 million births in the US last year providing viable placentas. Moreover, the benefits of building a large scale emergency response repository in the form of cell banks to treat Alzheimer’s, severe lung damage, diabetes, and kidney disease in between pandemics would be revolutionary.
Stem cells have not been heretofore utilized due to the FDA’s stringent safety requirements. Furthermore, there are significant costs associated with clinical trials where environmental sterility and quality control are carefully monitored. Ricordi raised funds from private individuals-90 percent of whom were of Italian descent. In his next larger trial he will be addressing how to stop progression of the disease in less severe cases.
Ricordi stressed the importance of wearing masks and socially distancing due to the viruses’ airborne nature; noting that contained spaces such as cruise ships, planes, hospitals and nursing homes were especially problematic. Ricordi is currently meeting with architects to discuss how to construct pandemic resistant buildings which use ultraviolet lights in bathrooms and avoid recycled air. “Our entire future will be reinvented” said Ricordi, as telemedicine and home monitoring of patients will soon become commonplace. He also predicted there will be future pandemics as the distance between animals and humans continues to narrow with monkeys and bats encroaching on human habitats and vice versa-due to limited space. Moreover, Ricordi remarked bioweapons and vaccines were a disaster waiting to happen. As Ricordi rushed to attend a pivotal meeting he casually mentioned his daughter was working as an ICU nurse in California-another reason this heroic warrior felt such an urgent calling to discover an imminent cure.
