By Hamideh Emrani (@HamidehEmrani) This year, Dr. Harold Atkins was honored with the Till & McCulloch Award. He and Dr. Mark Freedman led a clinical trial that used stem cells to reset the immune system as a treatment strategy for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and a few other neurodegenerative diseases, such as stiff person syndrome. You can […]
Are fat stem cells a drug? Today the FDA definitively indicated “yes” without leaving much of any room for exceptions on this question. This morning the FDA made a major announcement on stem cell policy regarding its current thinking on oversight of regenerative medicine and issued four guidances, including two each in final and in
Fat stem cells are drugs: new FDA final guidances Read More »
Right now the FDA has a big fat stem cell conundrum on its hands. The agency is faced with a tough dilemma as how to deal with fat (adipose) stem cell products and the large number of businesses who sell them. Are fat/adipose stem cells a drug or not? If yes, what does the FDA do
Dissecting the FDA’s big, fat stem cell dilemma Read More »
The Knoepfler lab has formed a team to raise research funds to try to find new treatments and hopefully cures for kids facing a type of mostly fatal brain tumors. Here’s the team page. If you can give us a hand by joining the team or making a donation that’d be wonderful. Any help would be appreciated.
Help research on kid’s fatal cancers via Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Read More »
Journalist Melinda Beck has a new piece on fat stem cell clinics in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today that includes one very brief quote from me that I believe effectively ends up being an unintentional misquote because of a lack of context. Here in this blog piece I want to provide that important missing
Providing key context for my quote in WSJ on fat stem cell clinics Read More »
Our new paper in the journal Cell Stem Cell on the large stem cell clinic marketplace in the U.S. documented a wide range of different kinds of clinics, stem cells used, and conditions claimed to be treated, but here I want to focus on the fat stem cell clinics in this post. I’m going to try
An elderly woman in Australia reportedly died shortly after receiving a fat stem cell transplant. Sheila Drysdale passed away hours after getting an adipose stem cell treatment a few days before Christmas in 2013. That death is now being investigated by the coroner there. Not only is this death in Sydney distressing in it of
Woman’s death after “no big deal” fat stem cell therapy: coroner investigating Read More »
Last week I blogged about how the FDA had issued a warning letter to a series of three co-owned fat stem cell clinics across the US. What does this FDA action mean on the broader stem cell clinic arena, particularly to those selling fat stem cells? The FDA is still in the process of getting public comment
FDA warning points to tougher regulation of fat stem cells & clinics Read More »
I was eating my Sunday breakfast and reading the SacBee, when a full-page ad for a stem cell clinic jumped out at me. I dropped my toast onto the plate and grabbed my iPhone to take a picture. The ad is for Nervana Stem Cell Centers in Sacramento. A little research on their website revealed
Fat & amniotic stem cell clinic Nervana opens in Sacramento Read More »
A patient in Japan has reportedly filed suit against a fat stem cell clinic and has won a judgement of 1.84 million yen in total (about $15,000 USD). The Tokyo District Court reportedly ruled in favor of the patient and most of the award is reimbursement. Authors Ikka, et al report on the case and
Patient Sues Fat Stem Cell Clinic & Wins Read More »