I’m continuing my patient Q&A series of posts and today is questions & answers post #3, which is on platelet-rich plasma, also known as PRP. You can read Q&A #1 on the potential for stem cell clinics to put patients at risk of graft-vs-host disease, and Q&A #2 on whether stem cell transplant recipients and autoimmune patients may be at higher risk of COVID-19. At left you can see an image of a PRP injection. In this case PRP is being injected into a …Read More
Are you doing your pandemic garden, even if it’s on a balcony or windowsill? How’s it going? If not, you might consider it as a source of both fresh produce and some peace from the COVID-19 stress. The other day I went to one of my favorite nurseries here in the Sacramento area and it seemed like everyone had the same idea as the garden center was packed. In fact, it was more than packed. When I finally checked out there were 20 people …Read More
Meet The Screamers. After being a scientist in one form or another for 30 years and blogging about stem cells and other science for more than 10 years, I’ve seen a lot of science hype. However, some science hype goes above and beyond the usual level to outright smack readers in the face. It almost hurts your brain or makes you want to scream “No!” We definitely see this kind of uber-hype in the stem cell field at times, but also in many other …Read More
A solid new, blinded placebo-controlled Phase II study from a Duke team clearly shows no benefit of cord blood for autism. Surprisingly, the team has said they are encouraged by the results. As a result, they apparently will continue this kind of work anyway despite their data. In contrast, I see the data as a probable stop sign. Few have been as upbeat over the years as this Duke team about the idea of cord blood for autism spectrum disorder. I have been one …Read More
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) has been around for a long time, but patients are often confused by it. In part the confusion arises from how it is marketed, which sometimes includes it being described as “stem cells”, which it is not. However, at times it can be as a therapy with stem cells or other biologics, which also adds to the complexity. To help clarify where things stand including on the clinical science, I’m going to do a series of new posts on platelet …Read More
The FDA has stem cell clinics squarely on its radar screen now and it’s pulling the trigger with many letters going out to this problematic industry. In the past, sometimes years went by with no letters at all or one letter in total to stem cell clinics so this marks a major shift. Background on lead-up to wave of FDA activity I count 7 letters in a less than two-month span from mid-March to now, which may be the most in history in the …Read More