I’m relatively new to podcasts, but am enjoying a new stem cell-focused one called Bad Batch by medical journalist Laura Beil, which I’ve been listening to in the car as I commute. I just finished episode three. I’m curious to hear how the next few episodes of the story unfold. I talked and emailed with Beil as she worked on this project. Her rigorous approach impressed me and she clearly did her homework on it. Bad Batch comes from podcast network Wondery. It is …Read More
Lawsuits
The unproven stem cell clinic StemGenex appears to now be called Advanced Cell Medicine. StemGenex is facing a proposed class action lawsuit by patients and it also recently received an FDA warning letter. StemGenex is notable too in that it seemed to be considering taking some extreme action against perceived critic websites including potentially the California Stem Cell Agency, CIRM. Could it be trying to put some of the past behind it? A reader of The Niche tipped me off in the comments recently …Read More
Unproven stem cell clinics are facing a variety of lawsuits these days including two prominent cases filed by the FDA. There are widespread patient suits against clinics as well. In April we saw a new kind of suit in the form of the NY State Attorney General (AG) Letitia James filing against a Manhattan clinic. I’m not going to rehash the allegations (see the above link to my piece with more info), but this one quote from the AG office has some key details: …Read More
E. coli is a type of bacteria that can cause diseases such as serious GI illness if it ends up in the wrong place like in your food. You can spend the night in the bathroom or end up in the hospital or more rarely a grave depending on the subtype of E. coli. Some are harmless or maybe beneficial. You can imagine that if pathogenic E. coli or similar bacteria are present in a drug product (which can include stem cells) that is …Read More
What can clouds tell us about a stem cell legal court case strategy such as USA v. Regenerative Sciences? It turns out, quite a lot. In about a week a Federal Appeals Court Case will begin to review the ruling in the USA v Regenerative Sciences that favored the FDA. This is arguably one of the most important stem cell-related court cases in years and could have as far reaching implications as the Sherley v Sebelius Case, but of course in a different way. …Read More
For the first time to my knowledge, patients have sued a dubious stem cell clinic (RNL Bio) for fraud. As one stem cell expert has put it (see below), now there is “blood in the water”. RNL Bio of Korea has reportedly (hat tip to Leigh Turner) just been sued for fraud by patients related to stem cell treatments it allegedly gave them. RNL Bio has both international operations, but notably also runs the Celltex stem cell clinic in Texas. The court documents on the case run …Read More