A team of doctors and researchers at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center (ADSCC) administered the treatment in the UAE to 73 COVID-19 patients, who were all successfully treated and cured, without any immediate side effects, according to a statement by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) health ministry from 1 May.

The process involved a minimally invasive method where the patients stem cells are extracted, activated and turned into fine mist to be inhaled into the lungs. This was done in addition to the conventional treatment and is expected to work by supporting the established protocol of management of symptoms.

The ministry said in the statement, It is hypothesised to have its therapeutic effect by regenerating lung cells and modulating the immune response to keep it from overreacting to the COVID-19 infection and causing further damage to healthy cells.

The treatment has successfully undergone the initial phase of clinical trials, demonstrating its safety, and further trials for its efficiency are ongoing; expected to be completed in a couple of weeks.

Dr Fatima al-Kaabi, head of haematology and oncology at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the UAE, told CNBC, Its very early to say at this stage. If all went well, this could reach the market in three months, she added.

Going further back, a pilot study in China on seven COVID-19 patients found that intravenous infusions of donor mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) - multipotent stem cells - improved patient outcomes and helped all of them recover. An Israeli pharmaceutical company, Pluristem Therapeutics, also tested stem cells in seven critical hospitalized patients and found positive results.

Additionally, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved MSC use in extremely sick COVID-19 patients under expanded access compassionate use on 5 April according to a report in The Scientist, even though the experts seemed divided on the logic on which the investigative treatment may have worked.

A hospital in New York tried the therapy as an experiment on 12 patients, 10 of whom were able to come off ventilators, reports CBS news. The Australian regenerative medicine company Mesoblast has also announced a 300-person trial for its stem cell therapy remestemcel-L (which was used in the New York trial) to determine whether it will work on patients suffering with severe lung inflammation.

Currently, there are over 20 active stem cell trials for COVID-19, most focusing on the use of MSCs.

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Stem Cell Treatment for COVID-19; Doctors Divided on Its Scope - The Quint