What happens when one of the most exciting stem cell biotechs ViaCyte teams up with a firm like CRISPR Therapeutics to use a combination of gene editing and cell therapy? Hopefully a synergistic partnership emerges that in this case can develop an effective stem cell-based therapy for diabetes. You can see a press release on …
ViaCyte & CRISPR Therapeutics team up to battle diabetes Read More »
What the devil is a vampire facial? I first heard about the vampire facial, sometimes also called a “vampire facelift” when professional celebrity Kim Kardashian reportedly got one. I weighed in on that five years ago here. There was some question in how this procedure was portrayed as to whether it involved stem cells, which …
Vampire facial update: Kardashian has regrets, others maybe infections Read More »
Sometimes it seems like a bunch of stuff in one area, like with CRISPR this week, happens all of a sudden in science. A bunch of fairly high-profile gene editing pubs came out. They generated a lot of news reports. Other news in this arena popped up too, all within a few days. In vivo …
CRISPR update: lots of new pubs, news, & maybe a patent finale Read More »
One of the most common questions about stem cells is economic as patients ask about stem cell treatment cost. How much is the price tag? Empowered with information patients can start thinking like consumers and look out for their own interests more vigorously. I’ve blogged and done polls before about how much patients self-report having paid …
Stem cell treatment poll results: how repeat shots boost costs Read More »
Sometimes we could all use a jolt of good news and cool science. Those of us in the stem cell field probably get tired at times of all the bad-ish, even if important news (like this from Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times) out there surrounding certain unproven stem cell offerings and also clinics that …
Some stem cell good news, stuff for debate, & cool pubs Read More »
New court documents indicate that the stem cell clinic Stemgenex was contemplating paying nearly $20K to try to get certain webpages that were critical of the company taken down. The documents include internal company emails that are part of the lawsuit against the firm. They indicate that Stemgenex was mulling over the idea of hiring a “reputation management” company, …
Stemgenex clinic mulled campaign against critic websites including CIRM per court docs Read More »
What is the Billionaire’s blood & stem cell club and how does one get into that? The focus of what I’m satirically calling this “billionaire’s club” is on anti-aging and prolonging life. If you have a lot of money and are willing to take risks on yourself toward some specific goal such as staying young …
Anti-aging and the billionaires young blood & stem cell club Read More »
The cost of stem cell treatments is a big deal for many reasons including the burden it puts on patients, who often then turn to friends, family and even the Internet to try to obtain the money needed to pay the for-profit clinic. A reasonable question to ask is how the cost of a stem …
Poll: How many stem cell treatments have you had? Read More »
Sometimes when I talk about possible placebo effects with fans of stem cell clinics I feel like placebo becomes akin to a bad word in the discussion. However, any kind of medical procedure can cause placebo effects in people. We’re all susceptible to it. I believe that many perceived positive outcomes at stem cell clinics …
Placebo effect & “the fade” after stem cell clinic shots Read More »
Time to sell exosome therapies to patients? No. Some stem cell clinics and related firms are looking for new ways to make profits and toward that goal a few have latched onto the legitimate buzz around exosome research. What are exosomes? Imagine if you could bubble up a pea-sized sphere off your skin full of …
As exosome work advances, clinics pitch unproven therapies to patients Read More »