The Doctor is In

After completing his surgical training, Prof Dr Fred Fändrich focused his scientific interest in transplantation tolerance and immunology, a successful venture which he has brought to Malaysia’s FF-IMT Clinic, he tells Kathlyn D’souza “It’s like changing the oil of a car intermittently to keep the motor running”

In person, Dr Fred Fändrich is lovely. He has a friendly face, and his eyes sparkle when you ask him, “What do you actually do?”, before he launches into a passion-filled exposition. Professionally, Fändrich is a pioneer in the field of transplantation as well as cellular medicine, and is considered an opinion leader, with accolades too long to list. Among his awards, one was achieved from an observation Fändrich made early in his career: “I noticed that a lot of patients who underwent kidney transplantation suffered and were threatened by the heavy immunosuppressive drugs, which not only increased their risk of developing cancer and severe infectious diseases, but also enfolded organ toxicity including on the transplanted kidney,” says the world-renowned scientist. This observation led him to two other groundbreaking discoveries in the medical field; the first pertained to the mechanism of innate immune cells (natural killer cells and monocytes), to prevent immune rejection and heavy immunosuppressive drug administration. The second came after rounds of experiments, which led him to characterise differences between monocytes which activate and deactivate (calm) immune rejection. Following ethical approval to use these regulatory monocytes in patients undergoing kidney transplantation, his first patient underwent a transplant surgery 14 years ago, and until today has a functioning, transplanted kidney—sans rejection crisis and toxicity. Since then, he began using these cells for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, as well as for the suppression of chronic immune activation in the body which is known to cause inflammation. This then brings us to the topic of FF-IMT Clinic, which he helms with his partner, Alice Yap. Say I was a curious patient, I asked him, what can I come to him for? He tells me that only a holistic therapeutic approach can offer sustained benefits for patients—before he explains that ff-imt’s concept of a larger medicinal scope to help clients include the treatment of acidosis, ph-balancing infusion program (which prevents ageing, and aids tissue repair, and I hear some clients undergo for beautifying purposes), hormone balancing, microbiome regulation and bio-resonance plus anti-inflammatory immune treatments. “The whole package is very powerful to reformat the customer’s deregulated networks. Our therapeutic package is always personalised and customised to meet the patient’s individual health needs, which can be determined by applying non-invasive diagnostic measurements,” Fändrich adds. So, essentially, customers may visit FF-IMT for two things. One, to avoid chronic disease, as you will be offered a treatment concept which reconfigures important networks, in a systematic way. “It’s like changing the oil of a car intermittently to keep the motor running,” Fändrich shares, offering an analogy to the untrained layman. And the second reason is to improve life quality, ameliorate pain and prolong one’s life, especially if one no longer responds to conventional treatments or has been given no other options or alternatives by other doctors. Currently, Fändrich is testing a new anti-viral and anti-carcinogenic nanoparticle—an add-on to standard chemotherapy, which improves the response rate in patients who no longer respond to the treatment. For now, you can head on over to FF-IMT to weigh your options, or have a chat with Dr Fred, who will be glad to regale you with tales of his experiments and work.