A FOIA request that I made with the FDA in mid-December 2012 has at long last revealed letters from Celltex to the FDA that previously were not in the public domain. The reason for the FOIA and for these blog posts is to shed some light on important issues that particularly relate to patient safety. I […]
Over at Health in the Global Village, Leigh Turner yesterday published an excellent piece updating us all on the latest news on Korean stem cell company RNL BIo (알앤엘바이오) and its leader, Dr. Jeong Chan Ra (라정찬 ). Addition: The story was reported in several Korean news outlets including Hani here. A video here by MBC News of Korea, one
Jeong Chan Ra Arrest: Can RNL Bio (알앤엘바이오) Survive? Read More »
I’m doing a series of posts on my recent conversation with BioTime CEO and pioneer of the stem cell field, Dr. Mike West. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 on Geron, ACT, and the history of the pluripotent stem cell field, particularly embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Today in Part 3, I am focusing on
Mike West Interview Part 3: key flaw in stem cell field Read More »
Texas Governor Rick Perry just announced that he will not run again for governor. This political development has important impact in the stem cell field, particularly in the state of Texas. Perry is one of the biggest advocates of certain types of adult stem cell commercialization. When he is no longer governor there will be impact
Celltex advocate Rick Perry will not run again for Texas governor: stem cell impact Read More »
What really happened at XCell-Center in Germany, formerly the largest stem cell clinic in Europe? A baby died after receiving treatment there. Why? Was the death in any way connected to stem cells? (update: note that since post originally went up, quite a few more patient deaths both a clinics and in clinical trials have
Commenter Claims XCell-Center Stem Cell Clinic Got a Bad Rap, Provides New Details Read More »
Are MUSE cells for real? Stem cells come in different types that vary in a key property called “potency”, but very few are pluripotent. The more potency, the greater the flexibility of a stem cell to make other cell types. Flexibility in the cellular world is power. The most powerful stem cells generally used are
Jury is still out on purported adult pluripotent stem cells despite new MUSE paper Read More »
I was alerted by a friend to the fact that there are now YouTube ads for stem cell products popping up, and one such ad features supermodel Kathy Ireland pitching for something called Stemáge Skin Care. Updated (May 23): note that preliminary word from Sanford-Burnham is that they are not collaborating on Stemáge. Today’s post is
Kathy Ireland Stemáge Stem Cell Product: Part 1, is it a drug? Read More »
One of the more exciting stem cell biotechs out there today is Advanced Cell Technology (ACT). At this time ACT has the only two ES cell-based FDA-approved clinical trials ongoing and so far they have looked quite promising in terms of preliminary safety data. However, ACT has much more in the pipeline including potentially iPS
Interview with Gary Rabin of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Read More »
I’ve been fortunate to interview some of the greats in the stem cell field for this blog and host debates between key players. Please note that just because I have interviewed folks does not mean I agree with them or that they agree with me. The point is to establish dialogue on key issues. As
Interviews with leaders and top players in the stem cell field Read More »
Today is part of 4 (the last) of my interview with Dr. Arnold Caplan, MSC godfather and guru. You can read parts 1-3 of the interview here, here, and here. In this post I focus on my discussion with Caplan on translation of stem cells to patients and the FDA. During our conversation we talked about some
Interview with Arnold Caplan, Part 4: the FDA and the Future Read More »