How Insurance & Government Dictates your Health – An Interview with Matt Feshbach

Published: Nov. 19, 2018, 2:45 a.m.

Mark is joined by Matt Feshbach on today's show. Matt is the Founder of AMBROSE Cell Therapy, which is a stem cell hospital. He has years of experience in the medical field and has a great understanding of healthcare options. They start off by discussing the "Right-to-Try" law that has was recently signed into law. They discuss the importance of giving terminally ill patients the right to try experimental drugs that have the chance to improve their health. Mark brings up the point that it is a basic human right to own our own biology and that the government has hijacked our basic right to make decisions on our own health. As they continue their discussion, Mark and Matt discuss the politics of getting an FDA approval for a new drug. Mark explains how the pharmaceutical companies and the government have stopped innovation by limiting it to those who can spend the billions of dollars on the approval process. Matt expands on this by explaining that the pharmaceutical companies and government benefit from these high costs, but the drug companies are not doing this to harm people. Matt explains that the stem cell research and therapy that he does is not embryonic stem cells; they are stem cells from the body's own fat. Matt also explains what a stem cell is and what the therapy can do for the patient. They include the regulations and government issues that they face with stem cell therapy. They wrap up on discussing the politics that are working against stem cell research and how insurance companies benefit from normal treatments because of government policies. Mark explains why the Affordable Care Act created an incentive for insurance companies to favor more expensive types of care. More about Matt Feshbach: Matthew (Matt) Feshbach is the Founder and CEO of AMBROSE Cell Therapy. AMBROSE was founded in 2017 with the mission: To help people with chronic degenerative diseases improve symptoms, function and quality of life with adult stem cell therapy. Matt has taken an unconventional path throughout his business career. He did not attend college but instead taught tennis at private homes in Silicon Valley. Through that experience he developed professional and personal relationships with a number of prominent investment managers, who inspired him to study securities analysis and begin investing himself. This led to the co-founding, with his brothers Kurt and Joe, of Feshbach Bros in 1982. Feshbach Bros. managed the first "short-only" hedge fund. Assets under management grew from $20,000 to $1 Billon in 9 years. Matt's investment career, through the ups and downs of the stock market, spanned more than 30 years. In 2009 he and his brother, Joe, began researching adult stem cells and their potential, due to their interest in a publicly traded company. They spoke to researchers from all over the world - Israel to Japan, Holland to Spain, New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Dallas and so on - to understand the best source of adult stem cells as well as the science, technologies and unmet medical needs they could potentially address. As a result of their research, they came to have a well-informed opinion that fat (adipose) tissue is the most accessible, abundant and potent source of adult stem and regenerative cells. As well, that the mixed population of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) could be used to address a broad spectrum of chronic diseases. This has now been validated in the published medical literature. 1 2 3 Along with his brother, Matt founded Okyanos (Oh-key-ah-nos) Cell Therapy in August 2011 in Freeport, Bahamas. The Greek God of Rivers, "Okyanos" symbolizes restoration of blood flow, which is an important mechanism of action of ADRCs. Shortly after helping to create Okyanos, Matt's brother, Joe, sadly died of a cardiac arrest. Joe's death prompted Matt to be even more dedicated his purpose to help...