The year of 2018 has already been a wild one for stem cell news. There are many developments on a variety of fronts. Here are some of the most notable news bites of the last month or so. RMAT Wave. The FDA continues its warp-speed issuance of Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designations with 20 such designations now in the public domain with Cellerant Therapeutics’ announcement and possibly a few more not yet out there. I wrote about the “carrot” of RMATs as relative …Read More
Brainstorm
This is Part 2 of my interview with ALS and stem cell advocate, Ted Harada. You can read Part 1 of my talk with Ted on where things stand today with ALS, the FDA, and the Ice Bucket Challenge. What’s your opinion of the “Right To Try” law in Colorado and the concept more generally? It seems to have the potential to speed innovation, but also put patients at risk. How will this be balanced out? Ted: I am a strong advocate for Right …Read More
Ted Harada is a wonderful patient advocate for the stem cell field and for the development of safe and effective stem cell products to treat ALS. Ted has ALS and received stem cell-based treatments for it with surprising, very encouraging results. The Harada family is pictured at left with Ted, his wife Michelle as well as their three children Ted, Jordan, and Ashleigh. Ted was a finalist for this blog’s Stem Cell Person of the Year Award last year and he achieves a great deal …Read More