This morning my local paper The Sacramento Bee ran a full-page, super splashy ad for the local stem cell clinic, Nervana. Remarkably the ad says, “As Seen in The Sacramento Bee”, referring to an article by reporter Claudia Buck that ran in the past in the SacBee Insight section that raised many concerns and questions about Nervana. I may have […]
Splashy SacBee Ad for Stem Cell Clinic Nervana Raises More Questions Read More »
One of the blogs I’ve really valued over the years was written by a pseudonymous academic blogger called DrugMonkey, but for two months the Monkey’s blog has been silent. Has he called it a day? Dropped the mic after successfully having big impact? What’s the deal? After many years could it be that the DrugMonkey decided to
Did blogger DrugMonkey drop the mic? Read More »
What’s the scoop on stem cells for autism? Could stem cells make a real difference for autism patients and their families? CNN has a big, high-profile new article out today on the Duke stem cell trial for autism that has been ongoing for a while and I’m wondering how good a job CNN did on
On Duke stem cells for autism trial, did new CNN article hit the mark? Read More »
The world of stem cell clinics is on edge right now with a number of negative patient outcomes reported and lawsuits in play such as San Diego stem cell clinic Stemgenex being a defendant in a proposed class action lawsuit focusing in part on alleged problematic marketing claims on their website (see archived posts on the lawsuit).
LA Times Reports Stemgenex Doc Gets 3-Year Probation from State Medical Board Read More »
The FDA recently issued a lengthy warning letter to Northwestern University over the clinical trial practices of its Dr. Richard Burt and this letter just popped up on the FDA website. To my knowledge this is an unprecedented event as I’m not aware of another warning letter to a major university for a stem cell trial. Burt received the FDA
By Amritha Jaishankar Happy Maryland Day from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) at Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO)! This year, here at MSCRF, we are skipping the crabs, old bay and beer and choosing instead to spend the weekend engaged in scientific review! As we commemorate the day the first settlers stepped on to
Guest Post from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund Read More »
Could the blinding of three women at a stem cell clinic have been prevented by better oversight or was the clinic acting outside of the scope of oversight by its institutional review board (IRB)? More broadly, when is an IRB conducting proper oversight and how do we know? When on the other hand is it
Does stem cell clinic IRB approval mean much? Insights from blinding cases Read More »
A paper retraction is a major, painful step in science, but sometimes it is necessary and in the past few weeks we’ve seen news of two high-profile stem cell paper retractions. However, these retractions were handled entirely differently by those involved and were prompted by very distinct situations. Update: for some background on stem cell
A tale of two stem cell retractions: stark contrast between Macchiarini & Egli Read More »
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and with stem cell clinics and GoogleMaps, maybe it’s true. When Leigh Turner and I published our stem cell clinic paper in Cell Stem Cell last year, Beverly Hills stood out as a top hot spot for these businesses selling non-FDA approved stem cells. See the GoogleMap image
The Real Stem Cells of Beverly Hills? Read More »
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Irish Stem Cell Foundation (www.stemcell.ie)! I’ve included a few picture from the parade here in Ireland. Scientifically, Ireland is going through a lean period. The national science funding agency SFI is having its first grant call in 2 years. If recent history is a predictor, they are more likely
On St. Patrick’s Day, an update on stem cells in Ireland by Stephen Sullivan Read More »