When biotech Geron punted on its embryonic stem cell (ESC) program despite having an ongoing FDA-approved clinical trial for spinal cord injury and tens of millions in loan funding from CIRM, many in the stem cell field were upset to put it mildly. Geron repaid the CIRM loan with interest. At the time, the general […]
CIRM comment on prospect of BioTime buying Geron stem cell program Read More »
I’m doing a series of posts on straightforward reasons why patients should not get unlicensed stem cell treatments. Part 1 of the series was on the risk of losing medical insurance coverage. Today is part 2, which is focused on a serious failing of many for-profit, point-of-care stem cell clinics selling unlicensed treatments: lack of
8 simple reasons not to get an unlicensed stem cell treatment part 2: lack of follow-up Read More »
Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. is a publicly traded (NASDAQ) biotech Israeli company that is developing stem cell treatments based on the use of expanded placental stem cells called PLX cells. The Pluristem PLX drug is not approved for treating patients at this time in any country, however Pluristem has treated a handful of patients via something
Money and stem cell ‘miracles’: Pluristem questioned on ethics Read More »
I regularly do an update on the publication trends in the iPS cell field and these have been posts that readers have found especially useful. Here was a popular update from 2010 and another one from 2011 that included a who’s who of the iPS cell field more broadly as well beyond just publishing. Then
Part 1 on iPS cell 2012 publication trends: an unusual year Read More »
What are Conflict of Interests (COI)? The term COI is sometimes used inappropriately as a weapon by one party to attempt to discredit others. We see this more and more frequently in the stem cell field with boosters of for-profit, non-FDA vetted adult stem cell clinics attacking scientists for supposed COIs for what…..apparently for simply
Real and imaginary conflicts of interest: a helpful guide Read More »
The Texas stem cell clinic, Celltex, is lately becoming a model of transparency in the biotech industry. They are willing to answer many (if not all) questions I’ve been asking them. Celltex is involved in stem cell isolation and multiplication, and banking (see post here on the pros and cons of stem cell banking) as
Interesting new insights into Celltex’s business model Read More »
I keep seeing these eerie parallels between thalidomide & dubious stem cell treatments. What’s the first rule of medicine again? Do no harm! Rushing new medicines such as stem cell treatments to patients without appropriate preliminary studies to try to make money is like playing Russian Roulette with patients. Some of the time, everything will
Eerie parallels between thalidomide & dubious stem cell treatments Read More »
Celltex is an adult stem cell company in the great state of Texas that reportedly has produced adult stem cell products used for the treatment of more than 100 patients with stem cells. We don’t know much about Celltex (e.g. it has no website), but I was hoping to change that in part via a
Predictions heat up on FDA audit of Celltex Read More »
Last year one of the biggest events in the stem cell field was biotech Geron punting its embryonic stem cell (ESC) program. Much consternation followed. Some folks opposed to ESCs happily pronounced ESC research dead. Some folks in favor of ESC thought the world was ending a year early. Others tried to look on the
The stem cell gestalt of Geron Goodbye and the future of ACT Read More »
TGIF It’s been a wild week on this blog with many thoughts going out to the future of stem cells in Texas. What about stem cell headlines of the week? Some wildness there too and lots of discussion of translational applications, which is exciting. This week let’s start in reverse order with the ugly and
TGIF: good, bad, ugly stem cell headlines of week of May 25 Read More »