According to the COPD Foundation, there are 24 million cases of COPD in the United States, and one COPD patient dies every 4 minutes. Now a biomedical company offers hope for a cure.

Entest Biomedical Inc, a subsidiary of Bio-Matrix Scientific Group Inc, has begun studies of the company’s stem cell/laser regenerative therapy for COPD. According to an announcement, Entest has begun investigations into the effects of low energy near infrared radiation on cultured cells as a first step toward animal preclinical studies for the treatment of the disease. The focus of these investigations, which are an extension of current Entest intellectual property covering an enhancement of stem cell growth and activity, will be on type II alveolar epithelial cells and related stem cells that reside in the lung.

In the announcement, Steve Josephs, PhD, co-principal investigator for Entest, stated that the company was pleased with the progress of its program, “which uses low level laser therapy for COPD as a means of inhibiting inflammation and stimulating lung regeneration.”