Stem Cell Fraud: A 60 Minutes investigation

[MBAnderson]

youtube.com/watch?v=ovPZkQY...(Not working as expected?)

[Hidden]

April 14, 2017 -- At 55, George Chung of Los Angeles could keep up with skiers decades younger, taking on difficult slopes for hours and hours. "Skiing was my passion," he says.

Then the pain started, and the bad news. He had severe osteoarthritis, the ''wear-and-tear'' type, in both knees. Doctors suggested surgery, but he chose instead an investigational treatment -- injections of stem cells. Two months after the first treatment, he was out of pain. "I had been in pain of various degrees for 6 years," he says.

Now, nine treatments and 3 years later, he is back to intense skiing. Last year, he also took up long-distance cycling, completed five double-century cycling rides, and earned the prestigious California Triple Crown cycling award.

The reduction in pain, however, isn’t permanent, Smith says. "The effect may last 6 months," he says, citing results from knee studies. When people are paying out of pocket, he adds, they may over-report good effects to feel like they got their money's worth.

Chung, the skier-cyclist, says the investment has been worth it. He plans to continue his injections once or twice a year, as needed, so he can stay active on the bike and the slopes.

webmd.com/osteoarthritis/ne...

[PDConscience]

MBA, Apparently you're persuaded by one particularly outdated exposé on stem cell fraud (there are several more recent VDOs on shady operators in the stem cell realm) to discount the entire science and the considerable progress made in the past few years(?). And, you assume parallels between this shady reprobate in Mexico and researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in the US(??).

To those paying attention to progress made, we've seen certain specific types of stem cells proving viable in certain groundbreaking applications in the few short years since your attached Youtube vid was made. As RP points out above, repair of thin/damaged joint cartilage with mesenchymal (tissue-derived) multipotent stem cells is just one. Mesenchymal stems cells are also proving effective in treating certain blood cancers (with bone marrow transplants) and even severe burn repairs. And more recently, a new type of stem cell had positive results in cases of macular degeneration.

'Multipotent' mesynchymal stem cells are not potent enough for those of us with more demanding needs, however, just as the scammer's adipose (mesenchymal/fat-derived) stem cells would never resolve his patient's complex maladies. For us, only induced 'pluripotent' (embryonic-like) stem cells (IPSCs) are potent enough. ONLY ISPCs (discovered in 2007 by 2012 Nobel Prize winning researcher Shinya Yammanaka) have the researched/proven potential to differentiate into the DA neurons (dopamine producing neurons) needed to refill the 'hourglass' for those of us running out of 'sand'. The Scripps Research Institute is currently working with the US FDA to approve trials in late 2018- early 2019...

[anna1060 in reply to PDConscience]

Thank you for pointing out so clearly the different capabilities of tissue-derived multipoint stem cells from those of the beneficent IOSCs. Do you know of any research trials comparable to Scripps on the East coast?

[MBAnderson in reply to PDConscience]

PD I did not post the video because it reflects my position that stem cells are not currently viable therapy. Perhaps, I should have said that. I posted it because I see a lot of questions here asking about stem cell therapy for PD and I thought it might have some value. Thank you for your thorough and very informative reply. I always learn something from your posts. (My delayed reply = I've been driving cross country and upon arrival, my computer didn't work.)

[Farooqji]

I have tried a lot and spent thousands of hour in searching and I could not find a single individual with PD who has benefited from stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy is reality but still in experimental phase. There are three independent trials in progress in different part of the world (Australia, Japan and China), the outcome will be known in the next three to four years. I have estimated that it will take 20 years for SCT to mature and become available on mass scale for general public. It would have been 10 years if George Bush had not halted the stem cell research. For now stay away from stem cells particularly for PD, as it is 100% fraud

[Hikoi]

Thanks for posting MB. (Im sure it was posted a couple of years ago too.). Whilst stem cells hold great promise, at the moment there are charletans like this man cashing in on the potential. Buyers beware.

[Hidden in reply to Hikoi]

My wife's knee pain is much subdued since her stem cells were injected into each knee.