This blog is called The Niche so publications on the stem cell niche often catch my eye even if that’s not something my own lab directly works on much. So today’s recommended reads will start with two papers on the stem cell niche. The first one focused on the niche gone wrong. The stem cell …
Recommend reads: stem cell niche, Georgia & FTC on clinics, more Read More »
The FTC has sharply increased its oversight activities against stem cell and regenerative clinic firms. These new actions include quite a few warning letters. Here is the FTC database for COVID-19-related warning letters. Note that recently the FTC added a new, helpful option to view all of its warning letters here. It’s a good source …
FTC fires off many warnings to stem cell clinics on COVID-19 Read More »
It’s been a busy week for the cellular and regenerative medicine space for COVID-19 news with some possible ups including for Mesoblast and some definite downs. Starting with the more positive media buzz with have Mesoblast. Mesoblast made COVID19 news “Thinly traded Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ:MESO) rockets 51% premarket on average volume in reaction to its announcement of an …
COVID-19 cellular medicine buzz: Mesoblast, FTC hammer, more Read More »
There’s a lot of questionable “stem cell” injections these days involving purported amniotic stem cell or other perinatal (birth-related) material. Regulators are taking note including the FTC, which took some unprecedented action last year on this front. Now the FTC has announced that more than half a million $USD have been returned to consumers who …
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took some strong action against specific stem cell clinics today and the physician behind them. I see this as really good news and it’s something I’ve been pushing for years. The clinics in question in part marketed unproven stem cells for sick kids. Frankly, iffy for-profit stem cell “treatments” for …
101-year old lady cured? Groundbreaking FTC Action on Stem Cell Clinic Marketing Read More »
I am in the unique position of being a stem cell scientist and a cancer survivor, although I have never had a stem cell therapy myself. Looking on the bright side my cancer experience gives me a helpful perspective too. What’s in this post Stem cell therapy | Stem cells can be a drug | …
The world of stem cell research and regenerative medicine is unpredictable but it’s fun to be a part of it and try to do predictions. Each year in late December or early January I make prognostications for the coming year for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. I made 21 such predictions for the current …
Grading my 21 stem cell & regenerative medicine predictions for 2021 Read More »
I remember seeing a cowboy-type TV show when I was a little kid where a guy pulled into town not slinging guns but selling snake oil. He stood right up on his wagon and started pitching the wonders of what he was selling. He had some buyers pretty quick. Eventually, someone like a sheriff or …
Snake oil history from century old elixirs to fake stem cells Read More »
I remember the first time I ran across an ad for a stem cell face cream and it wasn’t pretty. This was about 10 years ago. The stem cell cream in question made several claims that seemed highly doubtful. In a sense what the cream’s maker was selling was the idea of stem cell-based youth …
Fact-checking stem cell face cream: less than face value Read More »
One of the most common questions I’ve gotten over the last decade is, “how much does stem cell therapy cost?” They actually seem most often to want to know more specifically how much it should cost. To try to authoritatively answer this now in 2023 we need data from the present and past along with expert …