Stem-cell scientists grapple with clinics;Educating patients about unproven treatments

Nature today has an article written by Heidi Ledford discussing the worldwide rapid increase of stem-cell clinics and the dangers of these unproven treatments.

Scope has a nice write up on the article by Eva Valenti, she writes;

Regenerative medicine such as stem cell therapy has cast a ray of hope into many patients’ lives. Stem cell clinics, however, do not always offer patients the most effective treatments. According to a recent Nature article:

Many of the treatments such clinics offer — injecting a patient’s own stem cells back into his or her body in a bid to treat conditions ranging from Parkinson’s disease to spinal-cord injuries — are at best a waste of money, and at worst dangerous. “There’s real potential to damage the legitimacy of the field,” says Timothy Caulfield, who studies health law and policy at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

The potential danger of these clinics is clear: In May, Europe’s largest stem-cell clinic was shut down after its treatments were linked to a child’s death....Please do go read the more at Scope and the original article from Nature.

Related on this blog; Stem Cells; Searching For A Cure " When It Becomes Dangerous"