For-profit stem cell clinic secrets are bad news for patients. Stem cell clinics are in the business of making profits above all else and to make steady money they need a strong flow of patients as their paying customers for their non-FDA approved offerings. In order to keep the money pouring in, some of the […]
Shh! 10 stem cell clinic secrets kept from patients Read More »
Sacramento’s Nervana stem cell clinic has been selling non-FDA approved stem cell therapies to patients for a variety of conditions including arthritis, pain, and neuropathy for a while now since last year, but in my opinion there isn’t good evidence to back up using amniotic or fat stem cells for such conditions. Further, my understanding
Customers rate Nervana stem cell clinic harshly on Yelp Read More »
There is a scientist’s dilemma: should you speak out on important, sometimes controversial issues in science, where you not only can potentially have positive impact, but also risk being attacked for it? Or do you remain silent? I’ve now been blogging for more than 7 years. I’ve battled the often exploitive for-profit stem cell clinics
Scientist’s dilemma: find a public voice on big issues or stay silent? Read More »
University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner has been threatened with a lawsuit by a stem cell clinic-related business. Lawsuit threats in this arena come up every so often and as much as they are unpleasant realities, they can also reveal some important aspects of the stem cell arena. Ars Technica reported yesterday that Leigh’s recent paper
Stem cell clinic-related biz threatens researcher with lawsuit, wants retraction Read More »
Reposted from my book, Stem Cells: An Insider’s Guide.
Stem cell magic bus cartoon Read More »
Over the years I’ve been keeping my eyes open for advertising by stem cell clinics and lately the trend is big splashy ads in mainstream media including large daily newspapers such as the SacBee, the San Francisco Chronicle, and now the Seattle times (see below from today’s). These kinds of big ad buys on front or
Money talks: stem cell clinic ads mushrooming in mainstream media Read More »
I’ve seen stem cell clinic ad after ad pop up in the mainstream media in my own hometown in The Sacramento Bee paper, but others are sprouting as well and a friend sent me a particularly striking stem cell advertisement from a recent copy of the San Francisco Chronicle. Not only does this stem cell clinic
FIX IT! SF Chronicle runs striking stem cell clinic ad with coupon Read More »
What can go wrong with unapproved stem cell clinic offerings? The answer including from presentations at the FDA today turns out to be very serious, negative results right here in the U.S. Thomas Albini, MD gave a talk entitled, “Severe Visual Loss After Intravitreal Injection of Autologous Adipose Tissue-derived Stem Cells for Age-related Macular Degeneration”.
Negative stem cell clinic outcomes include 3 blinded women Read More »
There has been relatively limited response from clinics themselves to the Cell Stem Cell paper that Leigh Turner and I published recently on the scope of the stem cell clinic industry in the U.S. We found 570 stem cell clinics and there could easily be 50-100 more that escaped our search methods or that have
Some stem cell clinics respond with ‘not me, them’ Read More »
My colleague Leigh Turner and I today published a new paper in Cell Stem Cell documenting for the first time the American stem cell clinic arena in a comprehensive way, which we found as of February has a remarkable 570 clinic locations via 351 businesses. These numbers are way beyond the predictions of most researchers
New paper with Leigh Turner shows huge American stem cell clinic industry: 570 locations Read More »