Ofer Barshem of CellLipo
episode
Israeli Technology Founders Speak: Conversations with Successful Israeli Hitech and Biotech Entrepreneurs
22 min
1 speaker
7 chapters
transcribed 15 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What problem does CellLipo’s fat‑to‑stem‑cell therapy aim to solve in regenerative medicine?
This is Israeli Technology Founders Speak, a podcast of conversations with successful Israeli high-tech and biotech entrepreneurs, with your host, Avraham Hermon.
Ofra Bashem is the co-founder and CEO of CellLipo, an Israeli medtech company developing a breakthrough technology that transforms a patient's own fat into a stem-cell-rich therapy for regenerative medicine. The technology has the potential to make regenerative treatments more consistent, accessible, and ready for immediate use both in aesthetic and orthopedic medicine. Avraham sat down with Ofer to discuss the future of regenerative medicine, how CellLipo's technology works, the journey from hospital innovation to startup, fundraising challenges, the Israeli biotech ecosystem, the company's roadmap to clinical trials and FDA approval, tips for startup founders, and much more. This podcast is a creation of J.M.B.
Davis Ben-David, an intellectual property law firm serving clients around the world. You have great innovations. We keep them safe. It's not enough to just have a great startup idea or innovation. If you don't legally protect your innovations, products, and brand, anyone can claim them as their own. We keep your great innovations secure. Learn more by going to jmbdavis.com. That's J-M-B-D-A-V-I-S
dot com. Ofer Bar-Shem, you're the CEO and co-founder of Sell It Lipo. Thanks for inviting me and for having me in your offices, and I'm happy to be here. Welcome. And I'm interested in hearing about the problem that Sell It Lipo solves.
Okay, cell hypo is about regenerative medicine, and the concept of regenerative medicine is quite quickly becoming a major pillar in modern medicine. The concept is, what about if we could take an existing, very effective biological mechanism of action that really works well in our body, and try to export this mechanism into a place where it's missing, How about if this works? So you take something that is working very well in one part of your body, and you're putting it somewhere where it's missing. That's regenerative medicine. So to be more accurate, stem cells. So we are about extracting stem cells from patients' own fat for immediate treatment. So that's what we do. And now when you're asking what problems we're solving, you're asking me actually what you're going to do with this product.
So it's a biological product at the end of the day. Our device is a medical device. It's a mechanical solution, but the output is biological. So this biological output could then be used for two main use cases. The first one is medical aesthetics. It could be used as a filler, volumizer. For facial wrinkles or other body contouring or skin rejuvenation, that's one. And the other one is orthopedics for injecting it directly into painful joints, such as like osteoarthritis of the knee. It's a very big disorder. So these are the things that we're trying to solve.
So you're starting with a patient's fat. Do patients typically have excess fat that they want to get rid of?
Most of us do, but actually it does not require plenty of fat. The reason for coming to such a procedure would not be your excessive fat. I
see, I
see. The reason is that our fat apparently contains a whole lot of very active stem cells that could be used, so that's why we're starting with harvesting fat.
So does anyone else use fat for these sort of treatments, whether aesthetic or medical?
Yes, sure. So about 25 years ago, it was found that fat contains stem cells actually 500 times more than bone marrow, which is surprising. I found it surprising, and most doctors don't know it even. Okay. There are two types of existing solutions today. One is utilizing enzymes. So the enzyme actually breaks down the tissue in order to allow those cells to be isolated.
How does CellLipo’s technology convert a patient’s own fat into a therapeutic product?
And it works very well, but FDA does not approve it because the enzyme is considered to be risky for the patient later on.
I see.
So it's working nice, but FDA does not approve it. So cool thing is that these guys with the enzymes, they created a whole bunch of good data. So they showed that if you use those cells properly, they are extremely effective.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What problem does CellLipo’s fat‑to‑stem‑cell therapy aim to solve in regenerative medicine?
0:00–4:18
2
How does CellLipo’s technology convert a patient’s own fat into a therapeutic product?
4:18–7:48
3
Why is an autologous (patient‑derived) stem‑cell product considered safer and easier for FDA approval?
7:48–11:31
4
What were the key milestones in turning a hospital invention into the CellLipo startup?
11:31–14:43
5
What opportunities and challenges does the Israeli biotech ecosystem present for CellLipo?
14:43–18:25
6
How is CellLipo planning its first‑in‑human trials and FDA 510(k) clearance timeline?
18:25–21:43
7
How does CellLipo balance its aesthetic and orthopedic market strategies?
21:43–22:37