CAMcheck

Posted 17 July 2023

By Darius Widera
Associate Professor, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Reading

The Conversation

Rogue clinics selling stem cell therapies are popping up everywhere. There are thousands of them around the world, and they claim to be able to cure everything from autism to cerebral palsy.

The highest concentration of stem cell therapy clinics is in the US, Mexico, India and China. And people are travelling far and wide to get these treatments, leading to a phenomenon known as stem cell tourism.

Despite warnings from scientists, the media and regulators that these treatments are untested and potentially dangerous, desperate people are forking out thousands of pounds to essentially be guinea pigs for these unproven treatments.

In the US, several patients lost their sight after receiving stem-cell treatment for degenerative eye conditions. The patients, who were treated at an unregulated stem-cell therapy clinic … Read the rest

Posted 30 April 2018

Miracle cures or modern quackery? Stem cell clinics multiply, with heartbreaking results for some patients.

by Laurie McGinley and William Wan

Washington Post  April 29 

Doris Tyler lay on the examining table as the doctor stuck a long, thin tube into her belly. The doctor pulled back a plunger, and the syringe quickly filled with yellow blobs tinged with pink.

“Look at that beautiful fat coming out. Liquid gold!” one of the clinic’s staff exclaimed in a video of the procedure provided to The Washington Post.

Hidden in that fat were stem cells with the amazing power to heal, the Stem Cell Center of Georgia had told Tyler. The clinic is one of hundreds that have popped up across the country, many offering treatments for conditions from Parkinson’s disease to autism to multiple sclerosis.

Federal regulators have not approved any of their treatments, and critics call … Read the rest

‘Stem cell snake oil’ clinics could put patients in danger, report[1] says

Study finds that at least 350 companies are marketing unapproved stem cell ‘treatments’ aimed at everything from facelifts to Alzheimers and Parkinson’s

The US has become a booming market for unauthorized stem cell “treatments” for everything from breast enhancements to Alzheimer’s disease, according to the authors of a new report that warns of dangers to patients from such “stem cell snake oil” pitches.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/30/stem-cell-snake-oil-clinics-patients-report