What are stem cell fraudsters? Two women in San Diego County are heading to jail after being convicted and sentenced for fraud related to stem cell treatments.The women injected concoctions of bovine stem cells from Germany and DMSO into patients. You can read the details of the original arrest here on the FBI website. According to […]
What is stem cell self-experimentation? A concerning trend in the for-profit stem cell field, but one that does not get enough attention, is self-experimentation by those selling (often unlicensed) stem cell treatments. In other words, the stem cell clinic leaders and docs often not only sell stem cell treatments to patients, but also they give themselves
The dangers of stem cell self-experimentation: cartoon & discussion Read More »
The mesenchymal stem cell (MSC). So important and yet so misunderstood? People pronounce it in different ways. People isolate the MSCs in different ways. Each person’s MSCs are very different. Each lab’s MSCs are different. (see picture above of MSCs showing fibroblastic morphology; source is Wikipedia) Someone once told me that MSCs are the same
Would an MSC by any other name still smell as sweet? Read More »
What are the top action items for cancer stem cell field?Recently I spoke about cancer stem cells at a retreat. The presentation style was informal and enjoyable as it allowed for people to talk frankly about topics. It encouraged questions and outside-the-box thinking. As I was eating some yogurt at breakfast at the meeting awaiting
My ‘back of napkin” list of top action items for cancer stem cell field Read More »
The Korean-based stem cell biotech, RNL Bio, which also does business in the U.S. as RNL Bio and Human Biostar Inc, reportedly (seems to be a press release, PR) has filed an investigational new drug (IND) application with the Korean FDA (KFDA). The purpose of the application is to test the efficacy of autologous adult stem cells
Just how safe are stem cell transplants? Is an autologous stem cell transplant always safe? Is it really true, as one stem cell transplant doc once said of autologous stem cell treatments, that “the worst thing that could happen is the treatment won’t work”? Are adult stem cell treatments by definition safe? The reality is
Some 2012 papers that raise serious safety concerns about adult stem cell treatments Read More »
One of the most important elements of science is critical reading of papers. Most of us come into science as undergrads feeling somewhat naive about what we read in papers. Our default tendency is to believe most or all that we read as “true”. As we get more experienced, we realize that in fact if
Critically reading science papers: response to patient on MS stem cell literature Read More »
The recent NPR broadcast on stem cell therapies lit up my email inbox. Everyone wanted to know if I had heard it. I was working on about 10 things at once that day, but I ended up listening to it while walking my dog, Elvis, later that night. A few things struck me about the
Thoughts about the NPR piece on stem cells Read More »
A big issue in the stem cell field is that firms increasingly are doing business in multiple countries. Associated with the increasingly international nature of the stem cell for-profit industry are emerging legal and ethical issues related to the transport of stem cell-based biological drugs across international borders. Think you can just FedEx human stem
Writing this blog I hear a lot of stuff about stem cells all across the globe. Some of this is noise, but some is signal (i.e. real). What seems to be a very real and worrisome trend is that unlicensed for-profit treatments in the Philippines have exploded in the last two years. I would characterize
From Russia with love or…stem cells? Read More »