Stem cell injections at unproven clinics are expensive and unproven so a lot of patients have asked me if insurance covers stem cell therapy at clinics? Mostly the answer is “no”, but in rare cases there is some kind of coverage, mainly from employers that have inked some kind of deal with a stem cell […]
Does insurance cover stem cell therapy at unproven clinics? Read More »
Who decides whether a stem cell therapy is “good” or “bad”, and should that kind of a judgment be more focused on direct patient perspectives such as their stem cell therapy reviews as consumers or based on biomedical science? Both? I’ve written before about how stem cell patients are increasingly thinking of themselves as consumers
Stem cell therapy reviews: knees, lung, autism, & Regenexx Read More »
Stem cell therapy cost is a moving target. A lot depends on the circumstances. Did you get the therapy at a university or major medical center or like most people these days at a stem cell clinic? Did insurance pay any of the cost and if so, how much? If not, how did you get
Stem cell therapy cost: if you got a treatment, how much did you pay? Read More »
It’s a difficult, but very important road to conclusively prove that an investigational stem cell therapy is both safe and effective in order to get final approval FDA or equivalents in other countries. For this reason, it is beneficial to highlight even small, but positive steps forward including encouraging pre-clinical data. Today I’m doing a
Stem cell therapy review of good news: UC Davis, Asterias, Cynata, Mesoblast, ViaCyte Read More »
An elderly woman in Australia reportedly died shortly after receiving a fat stem cell transplant. Sheila Drysdale passed away hours after getting an adipose stem cell treatment a few days before Christmas in 2013. That death is now being investigated by the coroner there. Not only is this death in Sydney distressing in it of
Woman’s death after “no big deal” fat stem cell therapy: coroner investigating Read More »
Sergei Filin, the ballet master of the famed Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, was the victim of a nasty acid attack to the face and eyes. As the case remains under investigation, Filin was reportedly treated with a high-risk, unproven stem cell treatment to the eyes using umbilical cord stem cells. Allogeneic stem cell treatments are
Eyes of Bolshoi acid attack victim Sergei Filin treated with unproven stem cell therapy Read More »
What should patients think about when they are considering a stem cell therapy? Going to a for-profit, unproven stem cell clinic is particularly risky and raises more questions. Patient guide to stem cell therapies For better or worse, I am in the unique position of being a stem cell scientist and also a former cancer
What is stem cell therapy? Read More »
I had a feeling late last year that I’d frequently be writing about RFK Jr. and his impact on the FDA. However, I didn’t realize some of that would be writing for STAT News. As I mentioned a few days ago, I now have a new regular column over there. I thought the column would
Weekly reads: RFK Jr. stem cell summit, FDA OKs eye cell therapy, cartilage repair Read More »
From the beginning of the pandemic, I have been mostly skeptical about the idea of cell therapy for COVID including stem cell therapies. However, at the same time, I’ve closely followed the data, especially up until 2022. Now having just had a nasty bout with COVID myself for the first time this summer, I recently
Update on stem cells & cell therapy for COVID trials Read More »
There is still plenty of reason to worry about unproven stem cells being marketed in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. I’ll start with a new item here in the U.S. on a firm called MD Stem Cells and end with a newly published paper about how things are going in Poland on this
Weekly reads: MD Stem Cells, embryo models & headaches, cell therapy trial updates Read More »