The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – The Public Hospitals Authority’s (PHA) medical advisor says the Government will limit the number of parties conducting stem cell research and therapy work in the Bahamas.

“If you intend to be in the first round, you need to get your (proposals) in urgently because we have to ensure that we undergo very rigorous oversight and monitoring,” said Dr Glen Beneby, while attending the STEMSO conference in Grand Bahama.

He was one of four presenters on a panel discussion about ‘Medical Industry Start-Ups in the Bahamas.’

Dr Beneby said the Government had made a conscious decision to ensure the stem cell industry is regulated, and that proper monitoring is put in place.

“The basic framework in the Bahamas is going to ensure that all persons and human resources involved in research [here] are qualified, and that they will be monitored accordingly,” he said.

Dr Beneby said a number of councils have been established, and persons seeking to practice stem cell therapy in the Bahamas will have to register with a medical council, health professional council and a nursing council.

He added that 21 world-class scientists would sit along with the councils to provide oversight to any reserach conducted in the Bahamas.

“Public safety is paramount. We will not tolerate renegades or persons who are not qualified. We have no intention of being a jurisdiction that is delivering snake oil type science,” Dr Beneby warned.

“We want to ensure that the reputation of the Bahamas will not be challenged in this regard, and at the outset we intend to limit the amount of research and therapy work in the country.

“As we develop more expertise and we get better at this, we will be able to expand even more.”

Dr Beneby believes it is important to create the right environment in which everyone would wish to do research in the Bahamas.

He said the Government would seek to achieve a stem cell application turnaround time of six to eight weeks.

Matthew Feshbach, co-founder and chief executive of Freeport-based Okyanos Heart Institute, believes the Bahamas is a “great place” for persons interested in conducting stem cell research and therapy.

“The Bahamas is the place to be,” he said. It will take another five years and $300 million before you can do this is in the US. The Bahamas is a serious place to do business.”

Okyanos is the first stem cell facility in the Bahamas. The centre is expected to be ready in early summer to provide adult stem cell treatment to patients with coronary heart disease.

Mr Feshbach said he respects the Bahamas for what it has done to regulate the stem cell industry.

“The Bahamas does not want to be the Mexico of the east coast where people can do what they want to do; they want to be a place where patients can come and be safely treated for a medical need,” he said.

Mitchell Fuerst, a lawyer with US-based Fuerst, Ittleman, David and Joseph, said it was important that foreign or Bahamian businesses selling medical services in the US to Americans are able to provide proof that the care provided is scientifically valid.

He added that medical providers have to have scientific evidence to support the claims they make.

Mr Fuerst said he believes what the Bahamas has done in terms of regulating the stem cell industry surpasses what has been done in the Americas.

“The process that has gone on in this country is significantly ahead of what is being done elsewhere throughout the Americas, all the way to Argentina,” he said.