I’ve met people who are excited about using stem cells for Parkinson’s Disease. Some of these folks have Parkinson’s or are loved ones. Talking to them makes things real. It feel personal and not just scientific. The current treatment options are far away from what is needed for many people. I am optimistic that a […]
Weekly reads: Parkinson’s & the gut, sports, cat stem cells Read More »
The stem cell clinic arena is a Wild West but perhaps few have been wilder than the perinatal stem cell clinic firm Liveyon run by John Kosolcharoen. Now John Kosolcharoen has pleaded guilty to felony charges related to Liveyon’s activities including distribution of an unapproved cell therapy drug. He will be sentenced next month. This
Liveyon leader John Kosolcharoen pleads to federal felony charges on stem cells Read More »
Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells or MSCs are widely used by unproven clinics, but MSC research also suggests real promise in specific areas. Clinics mainly use adipose MSCs (often called SVF) or bone marrow MSCs. However, umbilical cord MSC preparations are getting more popular too. Many questions swirl around the use of MSCs including what exactly are
The idea of mesenchymal cells or MSCs for MS has been around for a long time. However, there haven’t been that many strong clinical trials testing it. There’s a new paper out that reports one of the stronger MSC-related trials for MS in terms of design. In this case, they didn’t use just MSCs but
Mostly discouraging trial of MSC-NPs or purported neural cells from MSCs for MS Read More »
When I first saw the new FDA warning on stem cells for pets and the logo for the company that received it, I was surprised in a few ways. I don’t recall ever seeing such a letter and the logo is something else. We’ll get into all of that in a moment, but first, since
Recommended reads: FDA warning on stem cells for pets, chromatin, aging & HSCs Read More »
One of the most contentious areas in the regenerative medicine arena is whether a fat tissue product called stromal vascular fraction or SVF is a drug. The FDA says SVF, even in autologous form, is a drug. It is seeking an injunction against a California-based network of SVF clinics but lost the initial case. That
Recommend reads: FDA SVF warning, big Aspen grant, CSI finale invokes stem cells Read More »
I’ve been wondering how the new Google AI overviews feature on its search platform would turn out for various stem cell searches. Frankly, I had a bad feeling that Google was going to blow this. Unfortunately, it seems even worse than I anticipated. Let’s go through three examples and talk about why this is so
Google AI overviews on stem cells are a bust so far & endanger public health Read More »
We’ve known that most organs have resident stem cell populations for decades, but things have been less clear in the lung and it has only been relatively recently that lung stem cells have been definitively characterized. Why is so important? Lung stem cells, whether endogenous or made in the lab, have the potential to help
Recommended reads: lung stem cells, Utah stem cell law, Ozzy gets cells Read More »
It takes a lot to surprise me these days in the cell therapy and regenerative medicine space, but some news from Walgreens stopped me in my tracks yesterday. The firm most well known for its drug stores and pharmacies has been struggling recently. Perhaps as a way to try to turn things around, they recently
New Walgreens shopping list: q-tips, aspirin, & cutting-edge gene & cell therapies Read More »
A new paper on stem cells for paralysis from a Mayo Clinic team has sparked a bit of legitimate hope but also some hype in the media. The publication was in Nature Communications. It is entitled “Intrathecal delivery of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells in traumatic spinal cord injury: Phase I trial.” The approach was direct injection
Perspectives on new stem cells for paralysis paper & media coverage Read More »