Former Texas governor Rick Perry, now the Trump Department of energy (DoE) nominee, has a long association with the Texas stem cell clinic, Celltex. He was a patient of Celltex, which some years back infused Perry with non-FDA approved stem cells.
The company received a warning letter from the FDA and since that time has sold its stem cells in Mexico away from FDA oversight. Perry has been a long-time supporter of Celltex.More recently he has served on the Celltex board and reportedly earned $175,000 from Celltex for his consulting. Big stem cell bucks.
Now reportedly Rick Perry has resigned from the board of Celltex and other businesses to avoid possible conflicts of interest as he hopes to take the helm of the DoE, a department he indicated he wanted to eliminate some years back apparently shortly after he had surgery and got a Celltex stem cell treatment, possibly having been impacted by pain medication. This was his famous “oops moment”.
There’s a reasonable chance that Celltex will be able to resume clinical operations within the U.S. in the next four years and/or potentially get an IND. I’ve heard something about the latter through the grapevine in the last few years and an IND could be a positive step.
Many are wondering what the Trump Administration’s policies on stem cells will be ranging from adult to embryonic stem cells. Could Rick Perry, if he joins the administration, influence its approach to stem cells? FDA policies?
As an update, Rick Perry ended up being Trump’s Energy Secretary, before ultimately resigning. He continues to support Celltex and even did an interview promoting them on Fox News.
He earned $175000? For what? Providing the idiot perspective?