Are you the type of traveller who finds a destination you love and you keep returning to it every chance you get? That’s not me. I can appreciate that with a limited number of vacation days and a limited budget, there is something to be said for sticking with the tried and true. I fall into the philosophy of the second camp: There is a huge world out there and I’m busy checking new destinations off my travel list.
So it is with some reluctance that I’m revisiting the topic of stem cell tourism. What is new to experience? Been there and done that. In fact, if you type stem cell tourism into the Signals’ search box, 11 entries come up, dating all the way back to 2010. I have blogged about the topic several times and thought I had nothing new to say. After all, ISSCR, CIRM, EuroStemCell and many other organizations have frequently done justice to the subject. There are also academics who eloquently expound on the topic (and who have been quoted and featured on Signals, such as Paul Knoepfler, Leigh Turner, Timothy Caulfield and Jeremy Snyder) and have had their words shared on much larger platforms than this one, thereby allowing them to reach and educate a much larger audience.
Why am I returning to this well-travelled destination? Because it just got personal.
An overseas stem cell clinic that advertises its services directly to consumers in Canada and the United States is using CCRM’s accomplishments, and Jim Till and Ernest McCulloch’s discovery of stem cells, to lend credibility and legitimacy to the field and therefore the clinic’s work. (The clinic name drops other companies too.) Their sales pitch goes something along the lines of “Toronto is a world leader in this research, but stem cell therapies aren’t approved there so why not visit our clinic instead?” (Hmm, perhaps there is a good reason why stem cell treatments don’t have universal regulatory approval yet.)
The clinic offers treatments employing mesenchymal stem cells derived and expanded from human umbilical cord tissue. Costs range from US$5,900 to $27,700 per injection and, depending on the condition and treatment, often multiple injections are given. If you are curious about cost, and many people are according to Dr. Knoepfler, he just shared a blog answering the question “How much do stem cells cost in 2020?” It is worth a read.
Back to the clinic. The conditions they treat include: “Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, COPD, diabetes, neuropathy, heart disease, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, critical limb ischemia, erectile dysfunction, degenerative disc disease, rotator cuff and aging.” None of this is particularly unusual with these clinics. They are all specialists in every condition.
Drs. Peter Marks and Stephen Hahn just published an article in JAMA on “Identifying the Risks of Unproven Regenerative Medicine Therapies.” Their comments are directed at U.S. unauthorized stem cell clinics, but like the overseas clinics “[they] have been offering unproven regenerative medicine therapies to patients for the treatment of conditions ranging from aging to arthritis to autism.”
Also of particular relevance is this passage in the concluding paragraph: “It is time for unproven and unapproved regenerative medicine products to be identified and recognized for what they frequently are: uncontrolled experimental procedures at a cost to patients, both financially and physically. Patients and their caregivers should feel empowered to report adverse events to help make sure that purveyors of unproved products are identified […].”
The clinics are in business because patients keep them in business. At least do your homework (check out those links in the second paragraph) before you hand over your money to an unapproved stem cell clinic, whether in Panama, Costa Rica, Florida or Toronto.
In my posts, I typically share a video that reinforces the topic I am blogging about. In the past, I’ve shared stem cell tourism videos to educate readers. I’m taking a different approach this time.
Stacey Johnson
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