Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/511155
IN THE PAST TWO DECADES, STEM CELL RESEARCH HAS YIELDED HOPE FOR INNOVATIVE TREATMENTS. BUT UNSCRUPULOUS PLAYERS EXPLOIT REGULATORY GAPS IN THIS RAPIDLY ADVANCING FIELD IN ORDER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A RANGE OF PATIENTS — FROM THE CRITICALLY ILL TO THOSE SEEKING AN IMPROVED APPEARANCE. By Cathy Higgins Lack of F EW DISPUTE THAT stem cell research holds enormous promise. Stem cell-related clinical trials are underway to develop treatments for conditions as diverse as heart disease and macular degeneration. However, untested therapies offered at clinics in the United States and abroad — often at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars — can have devastating consequences. Kevin McCormack, Communications Director for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, recounts the case of a Los Angeles physician who treated a stem cell tourist suffering from the effects of such a treatment. "A woman came to see him and was complaining of her eyelid …," says McCormack, whose agency was created by California voters in 2004 to fund stem cell research. "It turned out she had been to the Dominican Republic for therapy. She was getting some kind of cosmetic procedures, and in one of the procedures, the staff had injected stem cells into her eyelids and then added a growth factor. So apparently … this combination stimulated the growth of bone in this woman's eyelid." Some therapies have been at least anecdotally linked to develop- ment of cancer or other conditions, as well as deaths, notes Zubin Master, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College in New York. Yet positive outcomes are ubiquitously heralded on the Internet. "If you go on YouTube and type in 'stem cell therapy' and name a condition — blindness, ALS — you will see testimonials primarily of people saying, 'This actually works for me, I feel better. … I have better control, better movement, more energy,'" Master says. "But we don't know whether over longer terms these effects last." Nonetheless, the quest for a cure can override patients' caution. "So many people are desperate for a treatment, particularly if they're facing a life-threatening disease and have run Regulation Hampers Efforts to Monitor Stem Cell Tourism 1 2 | San Antonio MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M