“Latest Stem Cells News”

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 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

Alex Normandin, 26, of Montreal, Canada has been cured of his Multiple Sclerosis following the implantation of his own Adult Stem Cells. The stem cell therapy was done in conjunction with a research program in Ottawa with Dr. Mark Freedman.

A medical student, Alex was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than 2 years ago and was distressed to learn that he had the aggressive form of MS and was on track to be in a wheelchair in a matter of months.

Process of Stem Cells for Multiple Sclerosis in Canada

Luckily, he was accepted into Dr. Freedman’s stem cell research program at Ottawa General Hospital. In this stem cell program, the patient is first given chemotherapy to kill off the immune system. Then, the stem cell transplant takes place to “reboot” the immune system.

From the stem cell article:

Normandin became patient 19. His transplant took place in December 2008. It worked.

Not only does the disease appear to have stopped its progression, but Normandin says he feels his co-ordination and strength improving.

Normandin is buoyed by the treatment’s eight-year track record — none of the 24 patients have suffered a relapse or a brain lesion. (The article fails to mention the one patient who died from the chemo)

Stem Cell Therapy in China Quote Remembered

Readers of this blog may remember Dr. Freedman from this Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell post in which he commented on stem cell therapy in China:

Dr. Freedman is concerned that patients are forking over large amounts of money for unproven treatments like this, especially when there is no follow-up care or monitoring when they get home.

“It’s dangerous in the wrong hands,” he said. “The only reason these places could be in existence is to take people’s money and offer them something that’s unproven.”

I called that the “Most Hypocritical Statement So Far in 2009″ then, and I will stick to that for the following reasons:

1. Chemotherapy is dangerous.  1 of Dr. Freedman’s patients died while receiving it before the stem cell transplant- to call another treatment dangerous (which doesn’t use chemo, by the way) is hypocritical.
2. He says the therapies are unproven and only in existence to take people’s money-  however, in this article- it is revealed not only is his own treatment unproven, but it also is not free, in fact, far from free- “The trial procedure costs would be about $50,000 to $60,000 per patient.”  (A reader has since wrote in and says the Canadian Government pays for this treatment)
   

Actually that cost is more than other stem cell therapies in Costa Rica and China that we have covered in here (both are around $25-30,000) and do NOT use chemo.

So for those people who say that stem cell therapy overseas is very expensive– just look at Canada, or for that matter, look at Dr. Richard Burt’s multiple sclerosis study at Northwestern University in Chicago.  The cost for one multiple sclerosis patient is $90,000

I’m directing  this at critics who always point out that overseas stem cell therapies are expensive and dangerous rather than pointing out the “arrogance” of Dr. Freedman, who as far as I can tell is truly helping Multiple Sclerosis patients although he probably shouldn’t be opening his mouth about other stem cell treatments.

Stem Cell Treatment By The People, For The People

And yes, all of  these stem cell treatments in Canada, USA, Costa Rica, and China are “unproven” in the eyes of the medical world and the New England Journal of Medicine, although they all are proven in the eyes of the patients who receive the Adult Stem Cells whether they are in the form of umbilical cord stem cells (China), mixture of stem cells from the patient’s fat and cord blood stem cells(Costa Rica) and/or Adult Stem Cells given in the form of a stem cell transplant after chemotherapy (Canada, USA).   They all seem to work most of the time FOR THE PATIENTS NOW and that is what is important. Making Multiple Sclerosis patients wait for 10 years or so for the endless cycle of clinical trials in the US and Canada to end just so their doctors can see the words “proven” in a study is a travesty.

The Emergence of the Internet and Self Directed Healthcare

We can ask Jason Upshaw and friends about stem cell therapy in Costa Rica. Or, we can ask Betty Helm about how stem cell therapy in China worked for her MS. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, patients now have a bigger say and more access to information than ever before.

Dr. William Davis at the Heart Scan Blog has a great post on how health care is changing. Much like stockbrokers have disappeared due to online companies like E-trade and Ameritrade, patients can now take a more self directed approach to their health thanks to the internet.

original post by Don Margolis

Stem Cell Research Yields Benefits for Broken Bones

Stem Cell researchers have discovered that a drug for osteoporosis actually has a positive side effect- it can speed up the healing of bone fractures or broken bones by stimulating the patient’s own Adult Stem Cells.

Teriparatide- Now a Stem Cell Drug

The drug is called teriparatide (Forteo) and it is a “fragment of parathyroid hormone that contains 34 amino acids rather than the 84 found in the naturally occurring substance.”

Adult Stem Cell Research Results for Unhealed Bone Fractures

From the stem cell article:

In an observational study of 145 patients with slow-to-heal fractures, 93% had complete recovery within 12 weeks of starting treatment with teriparatide (Forteo), according to Susan Bukata, M.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.

Within 12 weeks of starting treatment, 141 of the 145 patients no longer had pain at the fracture site, 135 had radiographic and clinical union of their fractures, and six had partial union of their fractures that clinically functioned as a healed fracture.

Only four had no improvement in pain or fracture union.

93%? Not bad.

You can find the full research paper on healing fractures here

Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis- Giving Life Back

Multiple Sclerosis had taken many things away from Jason Upshaw- his job at the Sheriff’s department, his ability to play with his kids, as well as his ability to walk. Jason had given up hope . Luckily for Jason, he found an article about Preston Walker, another law enforcement officer in Texas with MS. Preston Walker had gone to Costa Rica for a new stem cell treatment and therapy using Adult Stem Cells and had reported tremendous improvements.

Jason, 36, of Erath County, Texas contacted Preston Walker who gave the stem cell therapy a glowing review.  Jason promptly contacted the stem cell treatment company in Costa Rica and arranged to go there for treatment.

In June, 2008, Jason went to Costa Rica with his mother to receive the Adult Stem Cells that would turn his life around.

Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms Before the Stem Cell Treatment

• numbness and tingling on his right side
• balance issues- had to use a scooter to mover around outside
• poor coordination
• severe heat sensitivity

MS Symptoms After the Stem Cell Therapy

• Not Applicable (NA)
• NA
• NA

Jason no longer has any symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis and he has stopped seeing his neurologist.  He is also back to playing baseball in the backyard with his kids.

Adult Stem Cells Improve Young Boy with Cerebral Palsy

Corey de Gregorio, a 3 year old boy from Gordonvale, Australia has improved tremendously after going to a Stem Cell research company which implanted Adult Stem Cells from cord blood into him.

Corey’s parents, Mark and Roseanne had doubts before going to China for the stem cell treatment, but they  wanted Corey to have every chance to live a better life and therefore, they made the journey to China for the stem cell therapy which used only Adult Stem Cells.

The miracle treatment consisted of six “therapies” of cord blood stem cells.

Before the Adult Stem Cells for Cerebral Palsy

• Had very little use of his left arm/hand
• Little movement in his torso

After the Stem Cell Treatment

• Can now use his left hand, can use it to drink a cup by himself
• Increased flexibility in torso