It is nice to be back home, but I really enjoyed the World Stem Cell Summit. It was an energizing, inspiring meeting. There was a huge amount of information presented including new ideas and challenges to the existing paradigms. I’ve condensed it down for you. Below I list and briefly discuss what I thought were […]
7 key take home action items from the World Stem Cell Summit 2011 Read More »
Another sports stars has been publicly “outed” as having received a non-FDA approved stem cell therapy in a foreign country. First, the big news earlier this year in June was that NY Yankees Pitcher Bartolo Colon had received a stem cell treatment. Then we all heard that Texas Governor and, at the moment, leading GOP
Sports stars, Rick Perry, stem cells: how many more people will die? Read More »
The Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, an opponent of Embryonic Stem (ES) cell research, has reportedly undergone an experimental procedure on his spine involving autologous transplantation of adult stem cells taken from his hip. The procedure, which is not FDA approved and costs tens of thousands of dollars, has no proven track record of success
Tex Guv Rick Perry Gets Stem Cell Treatment: what if ES cells were his only hope? Read More »
Stem Cell Tourism is a blanket term now used to refer to patients receiving non-FDA approved stem cell treatments either by traveling here within the U.S. or more often outside the U.S. Clinics are sprouting up all over the world offering treatments based on stem cells. The science behind these is often non-existent. Most stem
Stem cell tourism disaster coming: my case for caution Read More »
At last year’s ISSCR 2010 Meeting in San Francisco, President Irv Weissman talked about the dangers of unvalidated stem cell treatments. He talked about the responsibility of stem cell scientists to stand against these and the importance for scientists not to endorse or serve on advisory committees of companies peddling such products and “therapies”. As
Stem cell tourism: from bad to worse from 2010-2011 Read More »
What is ISSCR doing about unproven stem cell clinics? One of the greatest and most infuriating ironies of the stem cell-based regenerative medicine universe is that while the FDA strictly regulates the progress of therapy development by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and Geron and other legitimate companies, at the same time mysteriously the FDA essentially
ISSCR KO’d in round one versus unproven clinics: where’s the FDA? Read More »
I’ve been lecturing on stem cells as a professor here at UC Davis School of Medicine for many years so I can answer common questions such as “What are stem cells?” The medical students ask many great questions. They are always interested in clinical applications. The goal of today’s article is to help you have
What are stem cells? Definition & applications Read More »
The Trump Administration just quickly gutted the FDA including key leadership. What is going to be the impact of this sudden purge? Former Commissioner Robert Califf recently said it is the end of the FDA as we’ve known it. Those are dramatic words, but they seem on the money to me. As a biomedical scientist
Why the FDA & CBER leadership purge will be so bad for biotech Read More »
In a landmark decision, today the FDA approved Ryoncil from Mesoblast for GvHD. This is the first time the FDA has approved a mescenchymal stromal/stem cell or MSC therapy of any kind. There have been many ups and downs for Mesoblast toward this approval of Ryoncil or remestemcel-L, an allogeneic marrow MSC product. See my
In landmark, FDA approves first MSC therapy, Mesoblast’s Ryoncil for GvHD Read More »
QC Kinetix is a relatively new regenerative clinic brand in the U.S. selling unproven cell therapies. I see several specific red flags including a proposed class action lawsuit. The company reports having 150+ locations, making it potentially the largest chain of unproven clinics in the U.S. Collectively, these clinics could be seeing tens of thousands
QC Kinetix review: concerns on huge regenerative clinic chain Read More »