[1][2] He treated patients with procaine polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), but his medical license was suspended in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for using the unapproved therapy after an experimental permit for Procaine-PVP was withdrawn.
[4][5][6] Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Research Laboratory wrote that case histories of his therapy, "were quite remarkable and your concepts most intriguing" and ICN Pharmaceuticals replied, "The results you have obtained with this drug in the treatment of gangrene have been most spectacular",[7] but DeMarco was never able to commercialize the therapy beyond his own medical practice.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Debiopharm S.A. replied, "Drug induced cell regeneration appears to be a revolutionary new form of treatment which is bound to be perceived as highly controversial by several regulatory agencies.
"He and his patients credit the drug with cures for gangrene, heart ailments, circulatory problems and other conditions through regeneration of cells."
[3] DeMarco's regenerative medicine theory was that procaine enables protein de novo synthesis by acting on cellular DNA activity causing epigenetic changes.
In contrast, the treated rabbit shows healing in a smooth circular pattern with even levels and only after wound closure would the hair begin to regrow.
Hair growth and scar tissue were suppressed while select de novo protein synthesis appeared to accelerate.