Knoepfler, who has studied stem cell biology for two decades, said he has never heard of “any possibility of growing eyeball or other random tissues in your hand.” Knoepfler, who wrote about the video in February on his blog, The Niche, said, “There’s no way that the adult brain could send that kind of stem cells anywhere in the body.” According to Pourcho, these instructions make sure that tissues are repaired with the appropriate type of cell, and “so you don’t get, say, eyeball in your hand.” Pourcho says that platelets release growth factors that tell the brain which types of stem cells to send to the site of an injury. “As with any treatment that we provide, we encourage patients to research and consider all potential treatment options before deciding on what is best for them.”īut Knoepfler said the guests on the video make several “unbelievable” claims.Īt one point, Dr. “The terminology was kept simple and with analogies that the lay person would understand,” according to the statement. In a joint statement, Pourcho and Swedish defended the online video. James Rickert, president of the Society for Patient Centered Orthopedics, which advocates for high-quality care. All these reputable institutions, they don’t want to miss out on the business,” said Dr. Some patient advocates worry that hospitals are more interested in capturing a slice of the stem-cell market than in proving their treatments actually work. Across the country, “clinicians at elite medical facilities are lining their pockets by providing expensive placebos.” “It’s an out-of-pocket, cash-on-the-barrel economy,” Turner said. As a bonus, doctors don’t have to wrangle with insurance companies, which view the procedures as experimental and largely don’t cover them.įor doctors and hospitals, stem cells are easy money. Patients typically pay more than $700 a treatment for platelets and up to $5,000 for fat and bone marrow injections. “But just because something is legal doesn’t make it ethical.”įor doctors and hospitals, stem cells are easy money, Turner said. “FDA approval isn’t needed and physicians can claim they aren’t violating federal regulations,” Turner said.
COLUMBIA STEM CELL TREATMENT COST SERIES
While hospital-based stem cell treatments may be legal, there’s no strong evidence they work, said Leigh Turner, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics who has published a series of articles describing the size and dynamics of the stem cell market. Shane Shapiro, program director for the Regenerative Medicine Therapeutics Suites at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida. Hospitals like Mayo are careful to follow these criteria, to avoid running afoul of the FDA, said Dr. Although doctors usually need preapproval to treat patients with human cells, the FDA has carved out a handful of exceptions, as long as the cells meet certain criteria, said Barbara Binzak Blumenfeld, an attorney who specializes in food and drug law at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in Washington. The Food and Drug Administration is attempting to shut down clinics that hawk unapproved stem cell therapies, which have been linked to several cases of blindness and at least 12 serious infections. But critics suggest the hospitals are exploiting desperate patients and profiting from trendy but unproven treatments.
Hospitals say they’re providing options to patients who have exhausted standard treatments. Many patients seek out regenerative medicine to stave off surgery, even though the evidencesupporting these experimental therapies is thin at best, Knoepfler said. Typical treatments involve injecting patients’ joints with their own fat or bone marrow cells, or with extracts of platelets, the cell fragments known for their role in clotting blood.
Swedish is one of a growing number of respected hospitals and health systems- including the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Miami- that have entered the lucrative business of stem cells and related therapies, including platelet injections. It was sponsored by Swedish Medical Center, the largest nonprofit health provider in the Seattle area. But the marketing video wasn’t filmed by a little-known operator. Paul Knoepfler, a professor of cell biology and human anatomy at the University of California-Davis School of Medicine. The video’s cheerleading tone mimics the infomercials used to promote stem cell clinics, several of which have recently gotten into hot water with federal regulators, said Dr. Critics suggest the hospitals are exploiting desperate patients and profiting from trendy but unproven treatments.
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