Remember our old friends Liveyon? Their leader John Kosolcharoen? Liveyon’s continuing metamorphosis This biologics supply firm has gone through several stages of corporate metamorphosis as a supplier of biologics including at first a purported living umbilical cord stem cell product. That stem cell thrust ultimately landed a dozen or more people in the hospital as some of the product was somehow contaminated with bacteria along the way before injection in patients. There was a recall, an FDA warning letter, lawsuits, and a voluntary suspension …Read More
John Kosolcharoen
A new film-commercial entitled Awakening pitches unproven exosomes and has already been possibly tied to the troubled stem cell supplier firm Liveyon, but now it seems that the links go far deeper including a possible relative of Liveyon leader John Kosolcharoen. Even so, Kosolcharoen (pictured with another Liveyon leader Alan Gaveck below in a web video) recently denied involvement in an email exchange with me. Awakening drew so much attention in part because of its strong sci-fi vibe and its implication that the exosome …Read More
A new, somewhat mysterious short film that serves as an advertisement for unproven exosomes has some of us scratching our heads. Can you guys as readers of The Niche help solve the puzzle of who’s behind this wild “cinematic commercial” and what the deal is with the unproven exosome product it seemingly promotes as some kind of sci-fi miracle med? I hope so! For more on exosomes and legit research into them see this past guest post. Note that allogeneic exosomes used clinically appear …Read More
Umbilical “stem cell” supplier Liveyon has suspended sales of its products according to the WaPo after a harsh FDA warning letter. While not fully shutting off the tap to the perinatal stem cell clinic universe, as other suppliers including in Utah seem to be continuing, this Liveyon voluntary hold will equal a major reduction in supply. Why did Liveyon chose to halt sales at least for the moment? By comparison other clinic-related firms have continued business as usual despite various FDA actions against them …Read More
Friday and Saturday showed a burst in FDA activity related to unproven stem cells and regenerative products including a warning letter to the unproven perinatal “stem cell” provider Liveyon. This was an unusual 48-hour period and a very good one for those who believe in science-based regenerative medicine but in my view a bad day for perinatal stem cell clinic and exosome suppliers. For general background on exosomes see these past The Niche posts. I’m sure there are a lot of hardworking folks at …Read More
I finished listening to the first 6 episodes of the Bad Batch podcast last week. The series is by medical journalist Laura Beil. I think there will be a 7th episode that’s a Q&A. I highly recommend listening to the series even if parts are wrenching at times like how much patients and families have been hurt. It’s important to know that reality and to hear directly from the real people who’ve been hurt. The podcast focuses in large part on a supplier called …Read More
I’m relatively new to podcasts, but am enjoying a new stem cell-focused one called Bad Batch by medical journalist Laura Beil, which I’ve been listening to in the car as I commute. I just finished episode three. I’m curious to hear how the next few episodes of the story unfold. I talked and emailed with Beil as she worked on this project. Her rigorous approach impressed me and she clearly did her homework on it. Bad Batch comes from podcast network Wondery. It is …Read More
The perinatal stem cell clinic supplier Liveyon has had many issues recently including an FDA inspection that in my view didn’t go well and which I’ll return to in a minute. First, some background on the company and this troubled industry. E. coli and other pathogens ended up in some of the Liveyon product somehow prior to injections of it into patients at clinics. There was the recall. A dozen or more patients ended up in the hospital. Patients lawsuits stemming from that are …Read More
Every so often here on The Niche I list science and news articles worth a look as “weekend reads”. Below is my list for this weekend. Enjoy! The first article doesn’t really fit into the other main categories, but the title “herding brains” caught my eye. Stem Cells Stem cells and regenerative capacity in aging brain, article in Cell. Quiescence Modulates Stem Cell Maintenance and Regenerative Capacity in the Aging Brain. Does this kind of research have relevance to humans? See interesting, complex graphical abstract …Read More