Stem cell injections at unproven clinics are expensive and unproven so a lot of patients have asked me if insurance covers stem cell therapy at clinics? Mostly the answer is “no”, but in rare cases there is some kind of coverage, mainly from employers that have inked some kind of deal with a stem cell …
Does insurance cover stem cell therapy at unproven clinics? Read More »
Each year I make a list of stem cell predictions for the following year and I’ll release my predictions for 2019 soon, but first I’m grading how my 20 predictions for 2018 turned out. It seems I did better than usual predicting what would happen this year. I only got a couple partial credit or …
Good final grades on my 20 x 2018 stem cell predictions Read More »
The US has been bursting at the seams with unproven stem cell clinics for years, which in my view necessitates some kind of bold action by the FDA and other governmental agencies so I’ve wondered what new FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb would do on this front. The lead up to and beginning of a …
FDA under Scott Gottlieb goes large on stem cell clinics with crackdown likely Read More »
Who is Michael Deem and what was his role in his former student He Jiankui’s purported production of twin CRISPR’d babies? Is Deem now trying to edit himself out of the project? He Jiankui relied on help from many people and Deem was reportedly a part of that team. Members of He’s own research team helped …
When I say “gene edit” or “genome editing”, what’s the first thing that pops in your mind? It will depend on who you are. For many lay people until a few weeks ago when the world heard about He Jiankui‘s claim of CRISPR’d babies they may not have had anything pop in their heads when …
Context for my Nature piece on redefining “gene edit” to be more precise Read More »
What’s the deal with lung stem cells and stem cells for lungs? For a long time researchers found that stem cells were elusive in adult lungs. There was debate about whether they even existed, but it now seems fairly established that there are some of the little guys in there. Just because one of the …
On stem cells for lungs the-profit clinic offerings don’t make much sense Read More »
Scrolling through a stem cell clinic website can be a surreal experience. Going from the top of the page to the bottom can leave one feeling turned upside down. I wonder what the FTC thinks when they see these sites? Usually at the top of the webpage for many unproven stem cell clinics are big …
Upside down, sometimes wacky fine print on stem cell clinic sites Read More »
Three national academy leaders have a new opinion piece in Science on what the community needs to do next regarding human germline editing now that we are most likely in the CRISPR babies era. Some of us have been wondering what the Academies and their empowered experts really think about this issue and what they …
Is fat-free always a good thing…even for unproven stem cell clinics? It must be a challenge for a stem cell clinic firm like US Stem Cell, Inc. (USRM) to face an imminent possible future where it cannot sell injections of its main product, fat stem cells, in the US. After all, “US” and “Stem Cell” …
Is clinic firm US Stem Cell sued by FDA prepping for fat-free future? Read More »
Could He Jiankui have faked part or all of his CRISPR babies story? If so, how? Why? Or to put it another way, almost everyone seems to be assuming the story is real, but should we be more skeptical? Should we flip things around and assume the story isn’t entirely kosher until proven otherwise? I once …
History tells us to be more skeptical of He Jiankui’s CRISPR baby story Read More »