23-Nov-13 – A bio-tech company on the cutting edge of a multi-billion-dollar industry, owned by the co-author of condominium laws in Illinois, has been sold – and the last time this happened, the price tag was reported to be $100 million.

WeHealAnimals, Inc. was originally founded in 2011 by Dr. Donnie Rudd to test new technology intended for use by veterinarians but has since expanded to treat humans.

The technology is based on stem cells – cells that can change into other types of cells. The goal is to use a person’s own stem cells from bone marrow to heal an injury. It is believed this could reduce medical costs in the United States by $250 billion per year.

Hanover Portfolio Acquisitions, a California firm that buys and develops intellectual property, then puts it to work making money, announced on November 20 it has purchased WeHealAnimals for an undisclosed amount. Rudd will continue as president of WHA and work for Hanover as its Chief Scientist and Director of Intellectual Property.

A source familiar with the transaction who did not want to be identified estimates Rudd will receive $150 million for the purchase – which will include salary, stock, and bonuses.

“Stem cell therapies currently rely on harvesting cells through invasive procedures, cryo-preserving them, expanding them outside of the body through external growth factors, and then re-injecting them into the body,” explains Rudd (left). “Our…therapies can avoid…issues by simply amplifying the signals that the body emits as a normal physiological response to injury in order to repair itself.”

WHA will market a “time-varying electromagnetic frequencies” device for treatment of various diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Rudd not welcome to practice law in Illinois

Rudd, age 71, has degrees in chemical engineering, law, bioscience, and bioengineering. He was a patent attorney for The Quaker Oats Company and directed litigation for USG Corporation. In 1983 he co-wrote amendments to the Illinois Condominium Property Act with Ellis Levin, a state representative in the Illinois General Assembly from 1977 to 1995.

At one time, Rudd’s law firm in Schaumburg had more than 2,000 clients, mostly homeowner associations. In 1994, Rudd voluntarily changed the status of his Illinois law license to “inactive” after four complaints were filed against him with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. He now lives in Texas.

In 1991, a client of Rudd’s was murdered in her upscale townhouse in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and police there have not ruled out as a suspect Rudd, who denies involvement.

Reached on Tuesday, Miguel Hernandez, commander of the Criminal Investigation Bureau at Arlington Heights Police Department, confirmed that Rudd “still remains a suspect and unfortunately we do not have anything new to disclose at this time.”

Rudd was Chief Scientist, Director of Intellectual Property, and Corporate Secretary for a stem cell research company in Texas called Regenetech Inc., until it was sold in 2009.

He is motivated, he says, by the prospect of regenerating the brain tissue of his son, who has been in a coma since a motorcycle accident.