“Latest Stem Cells News”

If you have done any research on stem cell treatments abroad, you will undoubtedly read negative articles like this one on CNN from the mainstream media saying these companies are promising cures and are preying on the desperate, that these companies are selling “snake oil”   Nothing could be further from the truth.

The stem cell companies and stem cell doctors that are part of the Repair Stem Cell Institute offer patients a good chance at an improvement in the patient’s quality of life- they don’t offer nor promise cures.  Patients going to these stem cell therapy treatment centers abroad know this.

Unfortunately, the United States and their FDA don’t give these patients any other options.  Are they able to use their own stem cells to help their multiple sclerosis or heart disease-  Stem Cells that have been proven safe in thousands of studies? No.  What is one to do then?  These patients must go abroad for the only treatment that can help their disease or condition.

Here is a sampling of what some of these companies  affiliated with the Repair Stem Cell Institute tell their patients:

From Stem Cells China:

It’s not a cure. It’s about quality of life. Every day I see inquiries begin like this: “Can stem cells cure…?” Everyone should know the answer to that one right away. No. No known therapy utilizing stem cells can cure any medical condition. Not one.

A cure would rewrite the broken code of your genome. A cure would rewind the debilitating progression of a neuro-degenerative disease to the moment before onset. A cure would fix all the wrongs of a baby’s challenged birth. We eagerly await the development of cures and their accessibility to patients in need.

So why are people receiving stem cell therapy today? Therapies involving adult stem cells today are providing quality of life improvements for many patients. It’s no cure. Just as painkillers are not a cure for pain. They improve our quality of life if we feel pain.

But who would deny that painkillers are still worthwhile for extreme pain? Many doctors in the West are saying that they don’t have enough proof that stem cells are improving quality of life for patients. In the meantime, patients are busy coming to China and China’s stem cell clinics are busy offering the chance for quality of life improvements where none else would exist. We encourage you to explore the therapies being offered today.

From Dr. Shimon Slavin, Israel, helping people like Louis Zylstra and Arndt Roehlig

However, we have some positive and most encouraging evidence that the cells we inject may be of benefit, especially as evidenced in some patients with multiple sclerosis as well as based on the first patient we treated with spinal injury that seemed to have somewhat improved. The good news is that there are no side effects at all so there is no risk and nothing to lose (except money…). I would like to stress that since we are in very early stages of our research, nothing can be said about the clinical efficacy of our approach.  However, on the other hand, I do understand that patients in need cannot wait for all the answers to be solved and this is why we agree to offer experimental procedures for patients that understand the experimental nature of our program and consent to try and explore new treatment options.

From Dr. Roberto Fernandez Vina– For doctors who say that current stem cell therapies are “unproven,” Dr. Fernandez Viña has the following response:

“How many patients must to be treated to say this is a cure? How many patients must die waiting for the word “cure?”

A lot of diseases are not totally cured with drugs but the laboratories talk about curing (HIV, Tuberculosis and a lot of malignant deseases). They say that the drugs “cure” but in reality the drugs improve the quality of life. Stem cells “cure” in the same sense. If a person is dying of diabetes and we improve the prognosis and he no longer needs insulin injections, we increase the C peptide, decrease the HbA1c, decrease protein in the urine, decrease the risk of amputation or kidney failure, in my book that is a “cure.”

From Richard Humphries, with multiple sclerosis and a stem cell recipient from Cell Medicine in Costa Rica:

I’m case study #1 in the paper (Multiple Sclerosis Study) just released and have had two stem cell treatments in Costa Rica where they promise nothing but deliver wonderful results. Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis patients can’t wait on historical data. Time is not on our side but stem cells improved my quality of life and the follow up MRI looks excellent.

From the X cell Center in Germany:

Even if not all of the interactions have been conclusively researched to date, the status of the current medical insights has indeed reached a level that allows the non- hazardous treatment with adult stem cells and puts medical professionals in a position to assume responsibility for its use.

Given the proven treatment success of regenerative medicine, the question of whether more research is needed prior to therapeutic use has already been answered.

Those who nevertheless demand stem cell therapy be postponed until we know more about it are taking away patients’ rights to make their own decisions as they search for medical solutions – for the kind of help stem cell therapy does offer.

The first successful stem cell therapy for traumatic brain injury in the country was conducted by doctors at BGS Global
Hospitals.

Through this therapy, bone marrow was transplanted directly into the brain. N K Venkataramana, chief neurosurgeon of BGS Hospitals, confirmed that this is the first such attempt in India and second in the world. “China made the first attempt.”

The therapy was done on Madhumalika, 27, who was admitted to BGS Global Hospitals following a road accident on December 14 last year. She suffered from `diffuse axonal brain injury’ — a severe form of brain injury where the patient remains unconscious for a variable period. The patient needs to be assisted in his or her daily activities. In her case, she remained in a coma for more than three months.

Her mother had to resign from work and her father opted for the voluntary retirement scheme to look after their only daughter. “We had no hope of getting her back after the fatal injury. Also, we were unsure of the effects of the therapy on her. But we had to take a chance,” her father said.

In the surgery done in March, four million stem cells per body weight, which were prepared at Stempeutics Research Pvt Ltd, were injected directly into her brain.

After a month of the transplant, she showed considerable improvement. She became conscious, started talking and could move her limbs. She was also able to recognize family members and friends. But the prolonged stay in bed resulted in stiffness of the joints, for which she is undergoing physiotherapy.

Venkataramana said the belief that brain injuries aren’t curable has been proved wrong. “The need to help accident victims led us to work on stem cell therapy,” he added.

“Since 2004, there has been a pressing need to help the rising number of people who were disabled following road accidents. Stem cell therapy was one of the means to face the situation,” he explained.

“We’re planning to carry out a pilot study in treating head injuries with stem cells.”

from The Times of India

In a surprisingly balanced article on stem cell research from the mainstream media, Adult Stem Cells have helped at least two more patients- one for congestive heart failure and the other for Parkinson’s disease.

In an article by Forbes Magazine, they took a fair look at stem cell treatments abroad. Yes, there is the obligatory quote from Irving “they won’t work now- more research more research” Weismann. However, the author tries to show it from a patient’s perspective.

Parkinson’s Disease Treated With Adult Stem Cells

The first Parkinson’s patient she featured was Carlene Victor, who traveled to the Xcell Center in Germany. Carlene suffering from Parkinson’s for 7 years says ” I am not waiting for the FDA to rule to get treatments,” She went to Germany 5 months ago to get stem cell treatment for her Parkinsons. The results???

Victor is underwhelmed by her improvement. While she says she has more control over her feet, and the pain in her stomach that made it hard to sit has abated, her walking has not improved, her right arm still shakes, her wrist hurts continuously and her right foot still tends to numb up.

What if Adult Stem Cell Treatment was Available in the USA

So in this case, all of you can’t accuse Don Margolis of only focusing on the success stories. However, let’s take a closer look at this. What if the FDA wasn’t slowing down progress and made adult stem cell treatment available in the United States. Victor did improve a little bit. Therefore, if the treatment center wasn’t half way across world and cost prohibitive, and her own Adult Stem Cells were available for use in the United States- she could get another treatment here and then probably get a little more improvement with a second treatment and then even more with a third– why not? They are her own cells, her own repair kit- there is no downside to putting them in, just some discomfort. And the FDA isn’t allowing you to use your own stem cells thus making people like her suffer and “wait until the 10 years of clinical trials are done” which haven’t started for Parkinson’s by the way.

Parkinson’s Patient Improved With Adult Stem Cells- Michael J Fox Pay Attention

There was another Parkinson’s patient who went to the same stem cell treatment center as Victor and at the same time. His name was Aubra Phillips, 50, who had suffered from Parkinson’s for 22 years. The Adult Stem Cells worked for him!

From the stem cell article: he’s “60% to 70% better” than he was. He used to drag his legs and have trouble mustering the strength to sign credit card bills; post stem-cell treatment, he can jog and take notes. His stutter is gone too. Says Phillips, “If I can improve the quality of my life for what I have left to live, that is all I am after.”

Stem Cell Research for Congestive Heart Failure

Lastly, the article takes a look at Andy Jordan, who was in congestive heart failure. He came to Bangkok for stem cell treatment with Vescell. Before the “Vescell stem cell treatment“, Andy had an ejection fraction of 19%. After– his ejection fraction was 30-35%– even his doctor was impressed!

All of that included in just one mainstream media article on stem cell research. Maybe things are changing? I sincerely hope so. There are a lot of patients who can be helped right now with Adult Stem Cells!

In a startling new interview on stem cell research and adult stem cells in the near future, Dr. Christopher Centeno warns that Big Pharma and the FDA are teaming to control the use of a person’s own stem cells thus slowing innovation and the use of Adult Stem Cells to help patients now.

American Stem Cell Therapy Association

Dr. Centeno has formed the American Stem Cell Therapy Association to challenge the FDA’s assertion that a person’s own stem cells are a drug and thus should be regulated as such ie. subject to 7-10 years of clinical trials for each particular disease and condition.  That is 10 years for heart patients, 10 years of trials for stroke patients etc.

The FDA is Killing People By Slowing Down Use of a Person’s Own Stem Cells

The article/interview in H+ magazine states:

If we’re not careful, these therapies could become the exclusive domain of the pharmaceutical industry, as regulated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could push the availability of this tool kit 15 to 20 years into the future. The opportunity-cost in terms of morbidity and mortality could be catastrophic.

“The Opportunity-cost in terms of morbidity and mortality could be catastrophic? This is just the author’s nice PC way of saying that the FDA is killing people by trying to regulate the use of our own cells.  If the FDA slows down the use of Adult Stem Cells- each year millions will suffer and die needlessly.

More from the article:

To Dr. Centeno (a pioneer in Adult stem cell therapy), it is inconceivable that a person’s own cells could be classified as a drug —  but that’s exactly what the FDA wants to do. “The FDA is working to protect the interests of Big Pharma,” he says. “If we wanted to insert some kind of new genes into these cells, we might all agree that could be a drug  — a new entity. But what we’re doing is simply culturing a person’s own cells. Most of the cells are bone-marrow derived; you can get them from synovial fluid in the knee or from other locations.”

I recommend you read the whole article carefully and see how the FDA is not helping and protecting and serving us-  but in reality, is hurting us.

Here is the link to the Adult Stem Cell article

If you are a doctor and interested in joining forces with Dr. Centeno in taking on the FDA- go to the http://www.stemcelldocs.org

If you are a patient or just interested in fighting the FDA for the use of our own stem cells- go to http://www.safestemcells.org

original post by Don Margolis

Preston Walker and Richard Humphries are shining examples of how stem cell research using Adult Stem Cells are improving lives right now. Preston and Richard were the first two Multiple Sclerosis patients to receive stem cell treatment with their own cells derived from their fat.

Stem Cell Treatment in the USA? Of Course Not

The treatment and therapy took place in May 2008 in Costa Rica and since then the duo have generously donated their time to other Multiple Sclerosis patients who were in the same boat Richard and Preston were in approximately 1 year ago.    They are also spreading the word that Adult Stem Cells can help Multiple Sclerosis now with a treatment that is simple with no side effects.

A Note From Richard Humphries -Multiple Sclerosis Adult Stem Cell Treatment

Recently Richard wrote this regarding his own stem cell therapy:

Myself and Preston Walker were the first to receive the fat cell derived stem cell treatment in hopes of leveling off our immune system which has successfully happened without the severe side effects of chemo which has shown not as successful as the adipose treatment much less the unneccessary expense.

I’m case study #1 in the paper (Multiple Sclerosis Study) just released and have had two stem cell treatments in Costa Rica where they promise nothing but deliver wonderful results. Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis patients can’t wait on historical data. Time is not on our side but stem cells improved my quality of life and the follow up MRI looks excellent.

Richard Humphries

Stem Cell Treatment Enables Police Sergeant to Patrol Again

And then Preston Walker wrote this email to another Multiple Sclerosis patient who was considering using the stem cell research and therapy that changed his life:

I received the treatment in Costa Rica in May 2008. My symptoms included fatigue, depression, a cognitive cloud, foot drop and heat intolerance. At the time I went, I was taking features , Wellbutrin XL, Provigil and Razadyne.

The only thing I am taking now is Avonex as a maintenance drug. I am free of the fatigue and depression. I still have a cognitive cloud but it is nothing like it was before the treatment!

I am a police Sergeant in Fort Worth, TX. I am assigned to patrol and wear a dark blue uniform. If it wasn’t for the treatment, I don’t think I would make it to retirement in a few years. I feel absolutely certain that I will continue my active lifestyle and my career.

You can read the full story on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s website (www.startelegram.com). Once you get to the homepage, click on the BLOGS link. Once the next page loads, click on My Fight with MS in the bottom right hand corner. If you will go from the beginning by looking at the May 2008 folder in the archives (left hand side of the page), you will get a better idea of my journey while in Costa Rica. I underwent the treatment with Richard Humphries who posted while we were there also.

I will not tell you I am cured, but I am virtually symptom free!! My quality of life improved exponentially after the treatment.

If I can be of any further help, don’t hesitate to ask.

Preston Walker

The Debate on Stem Cell Research – Why So Much Emphasis On Cures?

Are people getting so caught up on the stem cell research issue that we are ignoring the patients who are in need of help right now? When the issue of stem cell research comes up, we always hear about promised cures. Are we so intent on 100% “cures” that we ignore stem cell treatments that are not “cures”, but do indeed help improve the quality of lives of the majority of patients right NOW. I’m sure Richard and Preston above are very happy with their results. Is their Multiple Sclerosis cured? No, it wasn’t a “cure”. Does that mean it isn’t good enough?

Why do we have to go for the homerun on every at bat, when a patient would be grateful for a single or double? Would Michael J Fox be happy if his Parkinson’s symptoms subsided for 5 years like this gentleman?

I see endless articles and letters to the editor that support state or federal taxes for Adult Stem Cell research or Embryonic Stem Cell research, but rarely do I see an article or letter promoting USING the only treatment that works now- Adult Stem Cells.  In the end, with all this hoopla, we are forgetting about what should be the reasons for the debates and research in the first place- the patients.

Remember, there are no side effects from using your own stem cells, either they help (most of the time) or they don’t (no harm done).

Perhaps we should take aim at the FDA as they are responsible for classifying a patient’s own stem cells as a drug thus forcing decades of clinical trials and sentencing millions of patients to unnecessary suffering and deaths by withholding the use of something that could help improve patients’  lives with very little risks.  Preston and Richard were lucky in that they had the resources and the courage to travel outside the box that is the FDA’s jurisdiction.  Millions others are not so lucky.

Dr. Amit Patel of the University of Utah is reporting that 3 out of 3 heart disease patients have improved in the initial stages of his stem cell research trial in which the cardiomyopathy patients had their own Adult Stem Cells injected back into their heart in a minimally invasive surgical procedure.

Dr. Patel presented the initial data at the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) annual meeting in San Diego, California.  The clinical research trial is treating heart patients with both ischemic cardiomyopathy and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy and then injecting them with their own Adult Stem Cells.  There is a control group in the study as well. Translation-  some patients are not getting the benefit of the stem cells and receive a placebo.

Initial Data of Patients Treated with Adult Stem Cells

Here are the results so far (from the stem cell article)-

• 3 cardiomyopathy patients who received their own stem cells were followed up at 3 months.  They all improved on their New York Heart Failure Classes- all 3 going from a Class III to a Class II.  In contrast 2 out of the 3 who didn’t get stem cells , did NOT improve.
• Overall quality of life scores (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire) improved in all 3 patients who received the stem cell therapy.  The physical and emotional well-being of all the patients who received the treatment also improved.  There was no consistent trend in the control group (the group that didn’t get the stem cells)

Millions Would Benefit With Use of Own Stem Cells

While these are positive results and I am happy for these patients, there are thousands of cardiomyopathy patients who are not able to receive this stem cell treatment.  Dr. Kit Arom of Vescell in Thailand, a former associate of Dr. Patel, is now treating these exact same patients with their own stem cells and none of these dilated cardiomyopathy and heart attack patients are in a “control” group ie. they are getting the exact same procedure and getting their own Adult Stem Cells that Dr. Patel’s trial is doing (sucessfully).

Dr. Kit Arom has been treating heart disease patients in Thailand since 2005 with this exact same procedure- and the USA has just done 3??? Is something wrong here?

The Debate on Stem Cell Research – A Smokescreen?

While there is the endless debate on Embryonic Stem Cell research vs. Adult Stem Cell research, is the debate just some  clever smokescreen thrown up by the drug companies, FDA, and cardiologists, none of whom will benefit from heart (or name your disease)  patients using their own Adult Stem Cells to help themselves?  Is this stem cell debate just a means to slow down the use of the patient’s own cells?  Remember, there are no side effects from using your own stem cells, either they help (most of the time) or they don’t (no harm done).

Are people getting so caught up on the stem cell research issue that we are ignoring the patients who are in need of help right now?  Are we so intent on 100% “cures” that we ignore stem cell treatments that are not “cures”, but do indeed help improve the quality of lives of the majority of patients right NOW.   I’m sure the patients who improved in the stem cell heart study above are very happy with their results.  Are their hearts 100% perfect now?  No,  it wasn’t a “cure”.  Does that mean it isn’t good enough?

Why do we have to go for the homerun on every at bat, when a patient would be grateful for a single or double?  Would Michael J Fox be happy if his Parkinson’s symptoms subsided for 5 years like this gentleman?  Or, I’m sure the heart patients are pleased that instead of getting short of breath from getting the mail, that they are probably now able to walk around their local mall with their loved ones.

I see endless articles and letters to the editor that support this research or that research, but rarely do I see an article or letter promoting USING the only treatment that works now- Adult Stem Cells.  In the end, with all this hoopla, we end up forgetting about what should be the reasons for the debates and research in the first place- the patients.