CELL SHELTER MAY STORE CANCER CURE.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

AGOURA HILLS - NeoStem Inc. is banking on patients' ability to fight disease.

The Agoura Hills startup company has raised $250,000 and is trying to secure an additional $800,000 in financing to open a stem cell repository.

``The basis of our company is to store your own stem cells with us so that you can use those cells for therapy should you get sick,'' said Denis Rodgerson, a former professor of pathology at UCLA.

So far the biggest thing that Rodgerson, NeoStem's 69-year-old chief executive officer, has going for him is stem cells' ability to combat the deadliest diseases.

And now the Irishman has to convince prospective investors that his fledgling blood business will have a viable source of revenue.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine defines a stem cell as a ``generic cell'' that can make an exact copy of itself indefinitely. The definition continues that a stem cell has the ability to produce specialized cells for various tissues in the body including brain tissue, heart muscle and liver tissue.

Through a process much like the collection of plasma - a yellowish fluid portion of the blood - NeoStem intends to extract stem cells from adults and then store them indefinitely for about $2,000. NeoStem subscribers could then access their own stem cells to assist in the treatment of disease or other ailments as that technology develops.

Dr. Edward McCabe, physician in chief of Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, said there are myriad possibilities for stem cells and that NeoStem is not alone in its business venture. His prognosis for the company's success ``depends on the probability of an individual needing access to their own stem cells,'' he said. ``But if someone does have cancer, it would be nice if their cells were banked away before the cancer cells were circulating.''

There are several other advantages to storing your own stem cells. The most obvious is that the body would easily recognize a cell that was harvested in the same bloodstream as its donor, said Dr. Stacey Kalambakas, a pediatric hematology oncology fellow at UCLA.

The adult body isn't the only source of stem cells. They also are extracted from the umbilical cords of newborns. The theory behind ``cord blood'' is that it contains a greater number of multitalented cells that can be used for a variety of applications.

``The only drawback with cord blood is that you can only get about 200 ccs per donation,'' Kalambakas said.

California Cryobank Inc. is a sperm bank that established its stem cell services division in 1997 to collect, process and store cord blood. The privately held company charges $1,690 for the initial cord blood deposit, processing and 20 years of storage.

While NeoStem intends to gain regulatory approval and collect its first round of stem cells by late fall, the company is hungry for a cash infusion.

The money would be used for such operating expenses as purchasing receptacles to preserve the stem cells and hiring lab technicians.

Simon Lam, NeoStem's vice president of business development, said the company is in the process of introducing itself to venture capitalists. ``We think investors are looking for a biotechnology company like us,'' he said.

But some investors disagree. At a venture capitalist conference last month in Beverly Hills, those with deep pockets were looking for companies replete with experience, revenues and a sound business plan.

``We're also interested in investing in larger companies right now because they simply help us avert risk,'' Greg Yurkovich, a venture capitalist with Forrest Binkley & Brown, said at the conference.

Despite NeoStem's anemic bank roll, the company does have experience on paper. Dr. Thomas Hirose is a founder, chairman and chief medical officer. Before NeoStem, Hirose was the co-founder of a cord blood company.

Edward Garnett, a former Amgen executive, joined NeoStem's business advisory board last week. He began working at Amgen in the mid-1980s and served as vice president of human resources. Since retiring from the world's largest biotechnology company, Garnett has been an angel investor - the first tier of investors to inject venture capital into a company.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) NeoStem CEO Denis Rodgerson, a former UCLA pathology professor, believes he'll find a market for his cell repository.

(2) Denis Rodgerson's company intends to store adult stem cells indefinitely for about $2,000.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer