Unproven stem cell treatments pose risks

UNPROVEN stem cell treatments behind an increase in international 'stem cell tourism' are not just proliferating overseas.

Similar treatments, without any medical evidence of their effectiveness or safety, are emerging in our own backyard, Australian stem cell experts warn.

Professor Megan Munsie and Dr Dominique Martin, from the University of Melbourne, said just because the treatments were offered in Australia and were not illegal did not mean they were safe.

Prof Munsie, a stem cell scientist who heads the education, ethics, law & community awareness unit at Stem Cell Australia at the university, said she had received more than 500 patient inquiries over the past year about experimental stem cell therapies offered in Australia and overseas.

Most of the inquiries about so-called stem cell treatments offered in Australia related to osteoarthritis, but patients were also querying treatments for spinal cord injury, blindness, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and autism, Prof Munsie said.

"It used to be that people with the same conditions would call about overseas treatments, but what I'm seeing now is that more and more people are asking about treatments here," Prof Munsie told AAP.

"Because it's happening here and it's not illegal, people think it must be safe.

"I'm not convinced it is safe, nor effective," she said.

While a handful of clinical trials are underway for a range of stem cell treatments, the only proven medical treatment using stem cells is bone marrow transplants for blood diseases including leukaemia, which have been used for about 40 years.

Treatments offered for osteoarthritis in Australia claim to use stem cells extracted from adipose tissue, or fat, using liposuction, which are then injected back into the patient.

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Unproven stem cell treatments pose risks

Stroke/brain damage Stem Cell Treatment – Video

Stroke/brain damage Stem Cell Treatment
Stroke/brain damage Stem Cell Treatment. For more information, please visit worldstemcells.comFrom:WorldStem CellsViews:0 0ratingsTime:04:57More inScience Technology

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Stroke/brain damage Stem Cell Treatment - Video

Whatever happened to? Bonita stem cell doctor's case moves to decision stage

Photo by Allie Garza

Zannos Grekos

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NAPLES There's been more legal wrangling since a state hearing last month to address Dr. Zannos Grekos' stem cell practice and if he committed medical malpractice or not.

A few issues were left unresolved after the four-day hearing that was held in Naples, including whether videotaped testimony of a state Department of Health witness would be admitted for the administrative law judge to consider.

Grekos' attorney, Richard Ozelie, of Boca Raton, sought to have the testimony of the witness stricken based on issues of how he arrived at his medical opinion in the case and related matters. The witness is Dr. Thomas Freeman, a professor of neurosurgery, molecular pharmacology and physiology with the University of South Florida's College of Medicine in Tampa.

In a Nov. 15 order, Administrative Law Judge J. Lawrence Johnston ruled that the witness' testimony would be allowed.

State health regulators last year restricted Grekos' license and forbid him to do anything with stem cells after a 69-year-old patient, Domenica Fitzgerald, died in 2010 shortly after undergoing a stem cell therapy in his practice in Bonita Springs.

Grekos had extracted bone marrow from her and infused her unfiltered bone marrow into her circulatory system in hopes of alleviating nerve damage in her feet, which was limiting her mobility. The nerve damage was a side effect from chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment several years earlier. After the stem cell procedure, she suffered brain damage and was hospitalized. She later was taken off life support.

In February, the state fully suspended Grekos' license after he and another physician, Dr. Konstantine Yankopolus, performed a similar stem cell therapy on a 77-year-old man, Richard Poling, who went into cardiac arrest in Grekos' practice and later died at a local hospital. A joint administrative hearing for both doctors will be held in that case, tentatively in February, but a motion is pending for a continuation.

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Whatever happened to? Bonita stem cell doctor's case moves to decision stage

Research and Markets: Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4tdv84/complete_201213) has announced the addition of the "Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report" report to their offering.

Stem cell research and experimentation has been in process for well over five decades. Stem cells have the unique characteristics whereby they are able to divide and replicate repeatedly in addition to their being unspecialized with the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. The possibilities that arise with the perfecting of cell replication has caused this area of exploration to remain on the forefront of scientific research, with ongoing hope that cures and treatment of diseases as well as reparative cell therapy, tissue regeneration and pharmacological testing on cell-specific tissue will one day become viable options within the medical community.

Diseases such as Huntington's Chorea, Parkinson's Disease, and spinal cord injuries are just some examples of potential clinical applications where stem cells can offer potential benefits in halting or even reversing medical conditions that previously had no positive outcome potential - and induced pluripotent stem cells represent a preferred cell type for this type of disease reversal research.

Traditionally, scientists have worked with both embryonic and adult stem cells. While the appeal of embryonic cells has been their ability to differentiate into any type of cell, there has been significant ethical, moral and spiritual controversy surrounding the use of embryonic cells for research. Although adult stem cells can differentiate slightly, they are typically limited to differentiation within their original tissue type, creating narrow options for their use.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of this report are the breakthrough findings discovered as a result of surveying 293 researchers that identify as having induced pluripotent stem cells as their core research focus. Of the 293 respondents, 181 were U.S. based and 112 were international. These key survey findings reveal iPSC researcher wants and needs, technical preferences, and key factors influencing buying decisions. These vital findings can be used to direct the product development and product positioning decisions. Remember, to benefit from this lucrative product market, you need to anticipate and serve the needs of your clients, or your competitors will.

Key Topics Covered:

I. Abstract

II. Background

III. Timeline

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Research and Markets: Complete 2012-13 Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Industry Report

Stem cell treatment allows Brian to take first steps on road to recovery

By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent

Friday, November 23, 2012

A Limerick quantity surveyor left blind and paralysed after a brutal assault, has taken the first steps from his wheelchair following stem cell treatment in China.

Brian Hogan, 35, was working in Nottingham in Jul 2009, when on a night out with friends, he was knocked to the ground without provocation, hitting his head on the pavement.

When an ambulance was called, he declined help. Some time later that night his condition deteriorated rapidly. When he came out of a coma, some weeks later, he was left blind and paralysed.

On his discharge from hospital in England, Brians parents and siblings gave him round-the-clock care at the family home in Ballykeeffe Estate, in Limerick.

His sister Siobhn Hogan said: "We did a lot of research and discovered a clinic in Bejing which offered stem cell infusions.

"It is a controversial treatment, but we decided Brian should have the opportunity to see if it could help him."

Now after the treatment, Brians family have seen a dramatic improvement in his condition.

"We were all teary-eyed last Tuesday when we watched him walk for a few steps after being helped out of the wheelchair," Siobhn said.

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Stem cell treatment allows Brian to take first steps on road to recovery

Moratorium on stem cell treatment in PH a must for now

THIS IS in reference to the latest Department of Health warning on the use of stem cells from aborted fetuses (DOH warns against use of stem cells from aborted babies, Inquirer, 11/11/12). It is my humble opinion as a Filipino medical practitioner that the most logical and effective way for the DOH to fulfill its function of protecting and safeguarding the health of Filipino patients from dubious stem cell treatment is to immediately impose a moratorium on stem cell therapy in the country.

In developed countries, novel stem cell treatment can only be tried on patients under a strict clinical trial environment. For example, if one tries to treat cancer or diabetes mellitus with stem cells using a protocol not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), one has to submit first to the US FDA voluminous scientific documents supporting or justifying the trial, based on pre-clinical studies. The trial is undertaken only after approval by the US FDA and institutional review boards, and usually the patients are treated for free or at a minimal patient expense. The treatment protocol is also open for review and the treatment results, both positive and negative, are meticulously monitored, reported and preferably published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

In the Philippines, some medical centers are currently giving stem cell treatment for a variety of conditions that had not been approved by the US FDA. The DOH mentioned that they will just be regulating and monitoring these centers (or the quality of their stem cells), but it is not saying anything yet about stopping the practice of delivering unproven stem cell treatments. I respectfully believe that this is the wrong approach and that it is paramount that the DOH should prioritize the safety and interests of Filipino patients rather than the financial interests of hospitals and doctors who have already invested in the technology. Of course, those few stem cell treatments that are approved by the US FDA (some blood cancers, prostatic cancer, etc.) should be the only ones allowed to continue for now until the DOH finalizes its regulatory guidelines.

JOSE A. AGUILAR, M.D., consultant,

Philippine Childrens Medical Center,

jettm42@yahoo.com

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Moratorium on stem cell treatment in PH a must for now