Warning over claims of stem cell cures
Insufficient safeguards exist to stop desperate patients being exploited by clinics offering unproven stem cell cures, scientists and patients' groups warn as a Harley Street doctor goes before the General Medical Council accused of misconduct.The doctor, Robert Trossel, is accused of sending patients from the UK to his Rotterdam clinic, where for up to £12,000 they could be injected with stem cells to help halt degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. It has been suggested that Trossel's clinic was supplied by another firm, Advanced Cell Therapeutics, which offered to inject 400 booked patients in offshore waters on a ferry.The charges are that he offered, and made false claims about, treatments with stem cell therapy. Trossel denies the allegations against him.Stem cell scientists say they fear public confidence in their work risks being undermined by clinics that make false claims. Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology at the National...
Read the whole article on The Guardian - Science
More from The Guardian - Science
Related
- Reprogramming a patient's eye cells may herald new treatments against degenerative diseaseThu, 22 Oct 2009, 21:35:50 EDT
- Stem cell transplantation of therapy-resistant chronic leukemia successfulMon, 12 Jul 2010, 14:15:31 EDT
- Stem cells from fat tissue offer hope for MS treatmentFri, 24 Apr 2009, 7:38:08 EDT
- Heart damage improves, reverses after stem cell injections in a preliminary human trialThu, 17 Mar 2011, 16:37:15 EDT
- Transplanted adult stem cells provide lasting help to injured heartsFri, 7 May 2010, 10:46:53 EDT