THE patient testimonials sound incredible: a mother with a severely autistic child, a young man struggling to live with cystic fibrosis and a disabled patient with multiple sclerosis. All claim healing through the power of stem-cell therapies, which are sometimes described in adverts as “miraculous”. A paper published on June 30th by Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis and Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesota in Cell Stem Cell found about 350 businesses in America selling stem-cell therapies for a wide range of ailments, many more than previously thought. This has reignited a long-simmering debate about the oversight of stem-cell clinics or, rather, the lack of it.
In one corner are patients, injured American football players and proponents of rugged individualism. These include Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas, who received them for a back injury. In the other corner is the drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which put so much heat on the Texas clinic that treated Mr Perry, Celltex, that it moved to Mexico. Also in the FDA’s corner are a large number of scientists and doctors, who argue that...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/29nrGIN
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