RNL Bio has been accused of allegedly smuggling stem cells out of Korea to treat patients in Japan and China without going through customs. But there is more trouble. RNL Bio faces additional challenges as reportedly (AsiaOne News) the Korean Government is weighing whether to charge RNL criminally based on their stem cell treatments being illegal […]
RNL Bio had a challenging year in 2012 in my opinion. It was sued in U.S. court for stem cell fraud by Korean national patients living in the U.S. It had a legal tussle, still ongoing, with former partner Celltex over custody of Celltex’s banked patient stem cells. Well, it seems to me that 2013
RNL Bio charges for alleged stem cell smuggling raise larger questions Read More »
Every now and then a paper on stem cells lands many international headlines and also captures people’s imaginations. This seems to be the case for the recent urine stem cell paper from a team in China, which has made huge headlines. In addition to mainstream media, the paper was covered in Wired here and also by one
Why did urine stem cell paper create global media sensation? Read More »
One of the most exciting types of stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs. Although there is some debate about these cells (e.g. I once heard Irv Weissman say at a meeting he wasn’t sure they really existed as such), a consensus would seem to be that they have great potential medical potential. Perhaps
Mapping global trends in MSC & stem cell clinical trials: unexpected findings Read More »
Celltex, the controversial stem cell clinic in Texas, announced in a press release (PR) today a couple of new hires. It also fired up its website for the first time that I am aware of. You can check out the website here. Wow. The website is notable since it has been inactive for quite some
New Celltex website goes live for the first time, making many safety & efficacy claims Read More »
Has there been stem cell doping in the Olympics? Readers of this blog have been asking me this question more than any other in the last week. Part of the impetus for this question is the growing number of professional athletes who more generally have received dubious stem cell treatments in foreign countries, perhaps treatments
Question of the week: is there stem cell doping in the Olympics? Read More »
A Korean stem cell clinic has been sued. For the first time to my knowledge, patients have sued a dubious stem cell clinic (RNL Bio) for fraud. As one stem cell expert has put it (see below), now there is “blood in the water”. RNL Bio of Korea has reportedly (hat tip to Leigh Turner) just been
Korean stem cell clinic sued by patients in U.S. for fraud: RNL Bio Read More »
The number of stem cell clinics both in the U.S. and around the world continues to accelerate. There are in fact so many clinics that it would be difficult to keep track of them all. As a way of simply dipping one’s toe in the water of the ocean of clinics, I did a “stem
Lessons from Google Ads for Stem Cell Clinics in May 2012 Read More »
Recently, there has been a brewing controversy surrounding a journal called American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), a company called CellTex, a bioethicist named Dr. Glenn McGee who founded and used to run AJOB until he recently resigned, and two University of Minnesota professors, Drs. Carl Elliott and Leigh Turner who have been publicly critical of
Celltex versus University of Minnesota: support for Elliott and Turner Read More »
Who reads this blog? A bunch of cool people including in science, educators, reporters, and patient advocates around the world. Some of them contact me, almost always to say nice things. Sometimes not so nice. To my knowledge this blog remains the only one in the world on stem cells written by a faculty level
The Niche deconstructed: some surprises Read More »