Search Results for: als

Weekend recommended reads: Athersys, ALS, COVID-19, Fibroblasts, Zoom brain

Fibroblasts-regeneration

What are you reading these days and does it include topics like cell therapies for COVID-19, ALS, regenerative potential of fibroblasts, and why Zoom meetings are so tiring for the brain? I cover those topics and more below with recommended reads including papers and media items. Here’s last week’s recommended reads. Here’s to fibroblasts, which …

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Cell therapy trials for COVID-19 accelerate & some early reports

MultiStem-Athersys-cell-therapy-COVID-19

Could various kinds of cell therapy help patients with COVID-19? A variety of cell therapies, mostly focused on mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), have gotten cleared quickly in the U.S., China, and Israel and possibly other countries to be tested in patients with the novel coronavirus. I hope at least one proves helpful. It’s mostly a …

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COVID-19 stem cell trials pile up during novel coronavirus outbreak

2019-nCoV-CDC-23313-COVID-19

Could stem cells help patients with the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19? It’s hard to say at this point. Is it worth doing trials during the outbreak to find out? Three new clinical studies have popped up on Clinicaltrials.gov investigating the potential of stem cells to help patients infected with the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Update, the …

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StemGenex clinic bankruptcy reveals surprises including huge revenue

Stemgenex

How much money and how many patients do stem cell clinics like San Diego’s StemGenex make each year? A new court document has some insights from an unexpected angle. I’ve been following StemGenex for years here on The Niche. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. Things hit a new low today, perhaps marking the operational end …

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Northwestern abruptly ending Burt HSCT autoimmune trials

Selma-Blair-HSCT

“HSCT Chicago Clinic Closing!” is the startling header in all caps on a patient-run Facebook page about a stem cell therapy clinical trial program at Northwestern University. What’s going on? Unfortunately, the promising field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases seems to have suffered an unexpected setback …

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FDA outlines potential crackdown on Clinicaltrials.gov offenders

Anderson-et-al-Clinicaltrials.gov_

Clinicaltrials.gov is a wonderful resource for its many users, whether a patient searching for a clinical trial to actually participate in or someone doing research as I have done, but it’s not perfect and some sponsors have been breaking the rules regarding its use. It’s a major problem in fact. Based on new draft guidance …

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60 Minutes Australia Pushes Unproven Stem Cells for Cerebral Palsy

A stem cells for cerebral palsy 60 minutes ad.

The 60 Minutes show here in the U.S. has done sobering segments over the years on risky, unproven stem cell clinics, but now there is a new episode of 60 Minutes Australia that is the polar opposite: it mostly made a mess of things with its fluffy coverage of the story of a wonderful little …

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New lawsuit against U.S. Stem Cell also alleges blindness

stem-cells-eyes, stem cell therapy side effects.

A new stem cell clinic lawsuit has popped up and this one, like some others, relates to a patient alleging vision loss due to a non-FDA approved stem cell offering and involves U.S. Stem Cell, Inc. (formerly called Bioheart). American stem cell clinics market direct-to-consumer stem cell offerings for a whole medical dictionary’s worth of …

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Cord blood for cerebral palsy: mostly discouraging new trial data

umbilical-cord-blood, umbilical cord blood stem cells

Some notable newly published Phase II data from the Duke cord blood for cerebral palsy trial unfortunately doesn’t give much reason for optimism that this approach is going to have a substantial positive effect for these kids. The double-blinded, placebo-controlled study did not find a meaningful benefit overall from infusions of autologous cord blood (ACB) for …

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