Year: 2017

20 predictions for stem cells & regenerative medicine in 2018

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Every year I look into my stem cell crystal ball and make predictions for our field including regenerative medicine. Well, I don’t really look into a crystal ball, but I try to use a combination of what I’m hearing through the grapevine, stuff I’m reading, some info that is not yet in the public domain, …

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Stem Cell Person of the Year 2017 Award Winner: Michele De Luca

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Congratulations to Professor Michele De Luca, the winner of The Niche’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award for 2017! He won the Award from a strong panel of 10 finalists. The award includes a $2,000 USD prize. I chose him because of his exceptional track record in stem cell and regenerative medicine science combined …

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Mesoblast gets FDA RMAT; List of 10 total designations so far

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Australian stem cell biotech Mesoblast announced that it has received regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation from the U.S. FDA. This is very good news for the company and an encouraging development for the field. Interestingly, last month the FDA clarified that there is expanded RMAT designation that can include gene therapies too. At the Meeting …

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New lawsuit against U.S. Stem Cell also alleges blindness

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A new stem cell clinic lawsuit has popped up and this one, like some others, relates to a patient alleging vision loss due to a non-FDA approved stem cell offering and involves U.S. Stem Cell, Inc. (formerly called Bioheart). American stem cell clinics market direct-to-consumer stem cell offerings for a whole medical dictionary’s worth of …

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Seattle clinic uses FDA commish in marketing non-FDA approved stem cells

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How far will stem cell clinics go to market their non-FDA approved “treatments” that they often claim will have miraculous results? I’ve never seen anything quite as striking as what some clinics in the Seattle area are now doing. In the past, we’ve seen clinics take researchers’ pictures, quotes, or videos to use for their …

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10 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award Finalists 2017

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The votes are in and the community has picked its top 10 Stem Cell Person of the Year Award finalists. Both the 20 nominees and now the 10 finalists are a diverse group. The finalists include six women and four men, from five countries and four different continents. We also got votes from readers of the blog …

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Hope & hype on unpublished Huntington’s Disease trial splashy news

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Some conditions like Huntington’s Disease are so bad and there are no treatments such that any bit of encouraging news can be cause for legitimate excitement, but at the same time things can go too far potentially, especially if there is news coverage not backed up by a published paper or some other definitive source …

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Sentinel Takes Investigational Deep Dive into Florida Stem Cell Clinic Soup

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When you think of Florida, what else crosses your mind first? Orange juice? Heat and humidity? Beaches? Disney? I don’t know if this says more about me or the state, but these days I think of stem cells. Florida and California are the two biggest hotbeds of the for-profit stem cell clinic world, each with …

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