Recent publications on unregulated stem cell therapies

There has again been a flurry of publications and articles recently on unregulated stem cell treatments. In a detailed article entitled Trading on Hope (subscription required) written by Jane Qiu for Nature Biotechnology, a number of these companies and the countries in which they operate are discussed. The author details commercial operations in China, India, Thailand and their links in many cases to the USA. The regulatory framework in these countries is also discussed and outlines the 'mixed messages' that seem to beset this area.

Another article entitled The Rocky Road to Regulation authored by Doug Sipp of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Japan was published in Nature Reports Stem Cells. This article discusses the difficulties in regulating stem cell clinics across the globe and examines reasons why a number of countries have attempted to curtain the provision of unproven therapies and how they have gone about it.

In a development that should be applauded, the Chinese Ministry of Health tightened regulations on stem cell therapies in May 2009. Chinese institutions have been forbidden from commercialising stem cell treatments without first proving that they work through proper clinical trials. The guidelines state that approval for stem cell treatments must be gained from the health ministry. Read more.

Germany's largest weekly news magazine Spiegel (German language only) has published an article appealing to patients to contact the journalist if they have undergone any treatment in the X-Cell Center or elsewhere. Find out more at http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medizin/0,1518,652890,00.html