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Stem Cells Help Injured Racehorse To Return To Form And Win The Welsh National

Author: VetCell
Posted: Wednesday 16th June, 2010. 00:00:00

The treatment that returned Dream Alliance to the racecourse

Stem cell treatment from VetCell helped chaser Dream Alliance to return to racing after severe tendon damage two years ago. He went on to win the Welsh National in 2009 and to run in the Grand National at Aintree in 2010. This remarkable success story underlines the immense potential of VetCell’s stem cell treatment. Dream Alliance’s treatment was administered by Professor Roger Smith, its originator who continues to refine the process.

The business of VetCell has been acquired by Quy Biosciences and is trading well under new VetCell Chief Executive Dr Joanna Miller. “We are delighted to be taking over the running of VetCell at this exciting time.” says Dr Miller who is leading an expansionist programme in the UK, Europe and the USA. “We are keen to offer this treatment to a much wider range of equine athletes especially eventers, show jumpers and dressage horses and are looking to expand our business not only in the UK, the US and Europe but across the world.” VetCell’s technique is already being used to treat many different types of horses from high-performance eventers and thoroughbred racehorses like Dream Alliance and Mr Cool to Andalusian dressage horses, polo ponies, endurance horses, New Forest ponies, Fells and Connemaras.

The treatment is not marketed as a ‘quicker fix’ than traditional methods (the rehabilitation following stem cell therapy takes around a year) but instead is a ‘better fix’. The stem cells grow into new tendon fibres which behave like normal tendon, rather than the scar tissue that would normally form to heal such lesions. Scar tissue doesn’t stretch like normal tendon and therefore the performance is reduced and the risk of re-injury is high. Following stem cell therapy, however, the healed tendon is closer to normal so the risk of re-injury is dramatically reduced.

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