StemCell Therapy

This Exosome Therapeutic Market business research report gives analysis and data according to categories such as market segments, regions, types, technology, end-user, applications and so on. The report offers the current industry data and upcoming trends of the industry, allowing the recognition of the products and end users boosting revenue growth and profitability. Moreover, this Exosome Therapeutic Market analysis document is structured with different graphical representations like graphs, charts, figures and diagrams with the specific arrangement of vital outlines, strategic diagrams, and illustrative figures based on reliable information to depict a correct picture of value judgement and income graphs.

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Market Analysis and Insights:Global Exosome Therapeutic Market

Exosome therapeutic market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2019 to 2026. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the market is growing with a CAGR of 21.9% in the forecast period of 2019 to 2026 and expected to reach USD 31,691.52 million by 2026 from USD 6,500.00 million in 2018. Increasing prevalence of lyme disease, chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease and other chronic degenerative diseases are the factors for the market growth.

The major players covered in the Exosome Therapeutic Market report are evox THERAPEUTICS, EXOCOBIO, Exopharm, AEGLE Therapeutics, United Therapeutics Corporation, Codiak BioSciences, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, ReNeuron Group plc, Capricor Therapeutics, Avalon Globocare Corp., CREATIVE MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS INC., Stem Cells Group among other players domestic and global. Exosome therapeutic market share data is available for Global, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America separately. DBMR analysts understand competitive strengths and provide competitive analysis for each competitor separately.

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Exosomes are used to transfer RNA, DNA, and proteins to other cells in the body by making alteration in the function of the target cells. Increasing research activities in exosome therapeutic is augmenting the market growth as demand for exosome therapeutic has increased among healthcare professionals.

Increased number of exosome therapeutics as compared to the past few years will accelerate the market growth. Companies are receiving funding for exosome therapeutic research and clinical trials. For instance, In September 2018, EXOCOBIO has raised USD 27 million in its series B funding. The company has raised USD 46 million as series a funding in April 2017. The series B funding will help the company to set up GMP-compliant exosome industrial facilities to enhance production of exosomes to commercialize in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry.

Increasing demand for anti-aging therapies will also drive the market. Unmet medical needs such as very few therapeutic are approved by the regulatory authority for the treatment in comparison to the demand in global exosome therapeutics market will hamper the market growth market. Availability of various exosome isolation and purification techniques is further creates new opportunities for exosome therapeutics as they will help company in isolation and purification of exosomes from dendritic cells, mesenchymal stem cells, blood, milk, body fluids, saliva, and urine and from others sources. Such policies support exosome therapeutic market growth in the forecast period to 2019-2026.

This exosome therapeutic market report provides details of market share, new developments, and product pipeline analysis, impact of domestic and localised market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, product approvals, strategic decisions, product launches, geographic expansions, and technological innovations in the market. To understand the analysis and the market scenario contact us for anAnalyst Brief, our team will help you create a revenue impact solution to achieve your desired goal.

Global Exosome Therapeutic Market Scope and Market Size

Global exosome therapeutic market is segmented of the basis of type, source, therapy, transporting capacity, application, route of administration and end user. The growth among segments helps you analyse niche pockets of growth and strategies to approach the market and determine your core application areas and the difference in your target markets.

Based on type, the market is segmented into natural exosomes and hybrid exosomes. Natural exosomes are dominating in the market because natural exosomes are used in various biological and pathological processes as well as natural exosomes has many advantages such as good biocompatibility and reduced clearance rate compare than hybrid exosomes.

Exosome is an extracellular vesicle which is released from cells, particularly from stem cells. Exosome functions as vehicle for particular proteins and genetic information and other cells. Exosome plays a vital role in the rejuvenation and communication of all the cells in our body while not themselves being cells at all. Research has projected that communication between cells is significant in maintenance of healthy cellular terrain. Chronic disease, age, genetic disorders and environmental factors can affect stem cells communication with other cells and can lead to distribution in the healing process. The growth of the global exosome therapeutic market reflects global and country-wide increase in prevalence of autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation, Lyme disease and chronic degenerative diseases, along with increasing demand for anti-aging therapies. Additionally major factors expected to contribute in growth of the global exosome therapeutic market in future are emerging therapeutic value of exosome, availability of various exosome isolation and purification techniques, technological advancements in exosome and rising healthcare infrastructure.

Rising demand of exosome therapeutic across the globe as exosome therapeutic is expected to be one of the most prominent therapies for autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation, Lyme disease and chronic degenerative diseases treatment, according to clinical researches exosomes help to processes regulation within the body during treatment of autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation, Lyme disease and chronic degenerative diseases. This factor has increased the research activities in exosome therapeutic development around the world for exosome therapeutic. Hence, this factor is leading the clinician and researches to shift towards exosome therapeutic. In the current scenario the exosome therapeutic are highly used in treatment of autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation, Lyme disease and chronic degenerative diseases and as anti-aging therapy as it Exosomes has proliferation of fibroblast cells which is significant in maintenance of skin elasticity and strength.

Based on source, the market is segmented into dendritic cells, mesenchymal stem cells, blood, milk, body fluids, saliva, urine and others. Mesenchymal stem cells are dominating in the market because mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewable, multipotent, easily manageable and customarily stretchy in vitro with exceptional genomic stability. Mesenchymal stem cells have a high capacity for genetic manipulation in vitro and also have good potential to produce. It is widely used in treatment of inflammatory and degenerative disease offspring cells encompassing the transgene after transplantation.

Based on therapy, the market is segmented into immunotherapy, gene therapy and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is dominating in the market because chemotherapy is basically used in treatment of cancer which is major public health issues. The multidrug resistance (MDR) proteins and various tumors associated exosomes such as miRNA and IncRNA are include in in chemotherapy associated resistance.

Based on transporting capacity, the market is segmented into bio macromolecules and small molecules. Bio macromolecules are dominating in the market because bio macromolecules transmit particular biomolecular information and are basically investigated for their delicate properties such as biomarker source and delivery system.

Based on application, the market is segmented into oncology, neurology, metabolic disorders, cardiac disorders, blood disorders, inflammatory disorders, gynecology disorders, organ transplantation and others. Oncology segment is dominating in the market due to rising incidence of various cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, skin cancer, lymphoma. As per the National Cancer Institute, in 2018 around 1,735,350 new cases of cancer was diagnosed in the U.S. As per the American Cancer Society Inc in 2019 approximately 268,600 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the U.S.

Based on route of administration, the market is segmented into oral and parenteral. Parenteral route is dominating in the market because it provides low drug concentration, free from first fast metabolism, low toxicity as compared to oral route as well as it is suitable in unconscious patients, complicated to swallow drug etc.

The exosome therapeutic market, by end user, is segmented into hospitals, diagnostic centers and research & academic institutes. Hospitals are dominating in the market because hospitals provide better treatment facilities and skilled staff as well as treatment available at affordable cost in government hospitals.

Exosome therapeutic Market Country Level Analysis

The global exosome therapeutic market is analysed and market size information is provided by country by type, source, therapy, transporting capacity, application, route of administration and end user as referenced above.

The countries covered in the exosome therapeutic market report are U.S. and Mexico in North America, Turkey in Europe, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Uruguay as part of Latin America.

Country Level Analysis, By Type

North America dominates the exosome therapeutic market as the U.S. is leader in exosome therapeutic manufacturing as well as research activities required for exosome therapeutics. At present time Stem Cells Group holding shares around 60.00%. In addition global exosomes therapeutics manufacturers like EXOCOBIO, evox THERAPEUTICS and others are intensifying their efforts in China. The Europe region is expected to grow with the highest growth rate in the forecast period of 2019 to 2026 because of increasing research activities in exosome therapeutic by population.

The country section of the report also provides individual market impacting factors and changes in regulation in the market domestically that impacts the current and future trends of the market. Data points such as new sales, replacement sales, country demographics, regulatory acts and import-export tariffs are some of the major pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, presence and availability of global brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, impact of sales channels are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.

Huge Investment by Automakers for Exosome Therapeutics and New Technology Penetration

Global exosome therapeutic market also provides you with detailed market analysis for every country growth in pharma industry with exosome therapeutic sales, impact of technological development in exosome therapeutic and changes in regulatory scenarios with their support for the exosome therapeutic market. The data is available for historic period 2010 to 2017.

Competitive Landscape and Exosome Therapeutic Market Share Analysis

Global exosome therapeutic market competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, global presence, production sites and facilities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product trials pipelines, concept cars, product approvals, patents, product width and breadth, application dominance, technology lifeline curve. The above data points provided are only related to the companys focus related to global exosome therapeutic market.

Many joint ventures and developments are also initiated by the companies worldwide which are also accelerating the global exosome therapeutic market.

For instance,

Partnership, joint ventures and other strategies enhances the company market share with increased coverage and presence. It also provides the benefit for organisation to improve their offering for exosome therapeutics through expanded model range.

Customization Available:Global Exosome Therapeutic Market

Data Bridge Market Researchis a leader in advanced formative research. We take pride in servicing our existing and new customers with data and analysis that match and suits their goal. The report can be customised to include price trend analysis of target brands understanding the market for additional countries (ask for the list of countries), clinical trial results data, literature review, refurbished market and product base analysis. Market analysis of target competitors can be analysed from technology-based analysis to market portfolio strategies. We can add as many competitors that you require data about in the format and data style you are looking for. Our team of analysts can also provide you data in crude raw excel files pivot tables (Factbook) or can assist you in creating presentations from the data sets available in the report.

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Exosome Therapeutic Market 2020 Major Growing Factors and Top Driving Force with Leading Players evox THERAPEUTICS, EXOCOBIO, Exopharm, AEGLE...

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Stem Cells Green Healthcare Costa Rica

Stem Cell Treatment for COPD in and around Costa Rica

About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a great place to be adventurous or for those who just want to relax and unwind. With more than 1,000 miles of coastline, the country is home to some of the world's most beautiful beaches(If you are looking for lots of sun, avoid the rainy season, between April and November). It is one of the top surfing destinations in the world, the water is warm year-round.

With its own delicious national cuisine, the country is also a huge grower of coffee, bananas and chocolate. If you visit Quepos, be sure to take a tour at Villa Vanilla farms to see how they make chocolate as well as vanilla, pepper, cinnamon and more. It is known as the happiest country on Earth. A common saying among locals is pura vida, which means pure life. Everywhere you go in Costa Rica, you will be welcomed with a smile by the locals. About 25% of the Costa Rica is made up of protected national parks and rainforests which hold 5% of the world's biodiversity and the country has very rich and fertile soil which helps make it so lush and full of life. The volcanoes and surrounding areas are also popular areas for hiking, camping and mountain biking.

Costa Ricas has two JCI-accredited hospitals and numerous smaller, private AAAASF-accredited and AAAHC-accredited clinics offering a wide range of medical services, including orthopedics, cardiology, cosmetic surgery, and bariatrics. Idyllic scenery and unique recovery lodges which has made Costa Rica a prime destination for the medical tourists,many of which travel for Stem Cell Treatment for COPD procedures.

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Stem Cell Treatment for COPD in Costa Rica - MyMediTravel

Matt Hancock has said there are early signs showing that the antiviral drug hydroxychloroquine may be a very effective treatment, implying the government is acquiring significant stocks of it. This is the correct approach. Trustworthy research has found it disrupts the endocytosis process ruffling of cell membrane to ingest particles and nutrients from its surrounding environment meaning it blocks the entry of Covid-19.

In the same way, hydroxychloroquine can also starve cancer given cancer cells grab extracellular nutrients to feed themselves. Looking forward, we need to modernise our cancer care in the UK. We sadly have some of the worst stats for cancer recovery in Europe. Our cancer survival rates are not just worse than America, Scandinavia, Canada, or Australia, for some cancers, they are even worse than Brazil or Costa Rica.

Conventional NHS therapy must move with the science, this includes repurposing existing drugs, traditionally used for other conditions, which are proving to disrupt the metabolic pathways of cancer cells. There is a huge untapped medicine cabinet of generic drugs and herbs that could help treat cancer, and many other conditions such as motor neurone disease and schizophrenia. Despite facing a record-breaking 17 billion annual drugs bill, the NHS still retains an outdated, rigid attitude to innovation. This drugs bill is rising around 8% a year, as the NHS struggles in negotiations with Big Pharma to keep costs down.

In the US, the costs of cancer care have also surged by 40% in the past decade. There is existing evidence suggesting that, together, these repurposed drugs disrupt the metabolic pathways of cancer cells to slow down or prevent their reproduction. They are among several cheap drugs with proven anti-cancer properties that are not available to NHS cancer patients. Many thousands of published scientific studies already show they can disrupt tumour growth by reducing cancer cell nutrition, and the Medical Research Council (MRC) is running clinical trials to begin to collect more data on the benefits of these repurposed drugs. But the results are at least a decade away, and the dose of aspirin being used in this MRC trial is not one that is commercially available anyway.

To improve cancer care in the NHS, we need a parallel support system for people that links in with NHS treatment, but allows them to access the best of other science-based treatments, of personalised medicine such as circulating tumour DNA analysis and cancer stem-cell treatment with integrated oncology. We also must find a mechanism and a structure for the regulators to allow out-of-patent drugs to be used again. Lets learn from best cases around the world.

We rightly cherish our NHS, even more so now than we ever did. Our carers deserve a new settlement once the pressure is lifted, as do other key workers like bin collectors, delivery drivers and cleaners. But in the long term we must ask ourselves seriously why, if the NHS is the envy of the world, in over 70 years no other country has copied it? We should take the opportunity to radically improve long-term healthcare in the UK and reform the NHS and social care system together once Covid passes.

The NHSs traditional levelling-down attitude that if something cant be offered to everyone then it shouldnt be offered at all is bad for innovation, bad for short-term care and bad for people who would otherwise benefit. Did you know around half of people get better after a cancer diagnosis? A shocking statistic mostly for people with one of the first three stages of cancer. I am aiming to join this 50% as I have Stage 4 breast cancer. Given just two years to live, Ive since made remarkable progress through one of these clinical trials using repurposed drugs.

Covid-19 has meant Ive ended up an accidental health tourist locked down in Thailand where Im watching from a distance whats happening in the UK. I am determined to play my part in increasing the survival figure by raising awareness of simple science-based things that help you to biohack your body, take control of your own health and beat the statistics. As my hero Marie Curie said: Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Katharine Harborne is a chartered environmental scientist, artist and a former prospective parliamentary candidate for the Brexit Party, and former Conservative councillor in the London Borough of Richmond.

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Boris is back, and we need him to end the coronavirus crisis and heal the NHS - Telegraph.co.uk

For the 39th year, M&T Bank, in conjunction with PennLive and the Harrisburg Lions Club, has been honoring central Pa.s top student-athletes with the John Travers Award.

The 2020 finalists have all excelled as athletes, students, and voices in their communities. Today, we shine a spotlight on the 5 female finalists.

Winners will be announced next month along with the A.I. Garner Outstanding Coach Award winner. The Travers Award is named for the late executive sports editor of The Patriot-News.

Gabriella Recce, Central Dauphin

Gabriella Recce Central Dauphin track and field during media day on February 28, 2019.Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM

Varsity sports: Track and Field (4 letters), Indoor Track (3 letters), Golf (4 letters), Cheerleading (1 letter), Swimming (1 letter)

College choice: University of Virginia

Finalists voice: I chose to pursue engineering as my career, because engineers can change the way we live in the world. Whether eradicating cancer and other debilitating diseases, improving our health with stem cell therapies, cleaning the environment with sustainable approaches or creating novel transportation methods, engineers are trained to solve problems and generate new solutions. My passion for this career comes from my dedication to my academic journey, my learning as a multi-event athlete and the support and encouragement of my family.

Describe yourself in one word: Positive

Gabriella Recce of Central Dauphin competes in the girls 3A long jump during the District 3 Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University on May 18, 2019.Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com

Accomplishments: Theres no question Recce was aligned for a terrific final season in track and field. Earning three PIAA medals in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump at last years PIAA Championship meet, Recce was poised to add a few more records to her already glowing career. Shes earned a dozen top finishes during Mid-Penn and District 3 competitions. Plus, she qualified and competed at the prestigious Penn Relays, New Balance Outdoor and Indoor National competitions along the way. Recce was coming off an outstanding Indoor season when the spring sports calendar was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Reece, also an accomplished golfer, helped the Rams golf team win a District 3 title in 2017. Vice-President of CDs National Honors Society, Recce also served as Editor of the Key Club and volunteered with PAWS, LPGA Girls Golf of Harrisburg, the Four Diamonds Club and PanRam Field Day for special needs students. In addition, the senior won a national gold medal in scholastic art and writing (2016) and was part of Hershey Medical Centers PULSE Program.

Katie Sajer, Trinity

Katie Sajer (20) of Trinity girls basketball during Mid-Penn basketball media day on Nov. 14, 2019.Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Varsity sports: Volleyball (4 letters), Basketball (4 letters), Lacrosse (4 letters)

College choice: University of Notre Dame

Finalists voice: The ROTC program offers chances to earn skill sets and exposure otherwise unavailable to civilians. These skills will be necessary to ensure the lives and safety of my team. By using my athleticism in this regard, I will be able to give back to the country that has made me into the person I am today, and fight for the people who came before me. I will be able to make a larger impact through this use of my athleticism than anything I would be able to do on the athletic field or court.

Describe yourself in one word: Hard-working

Trinity's Katie Sajer drives past a Central Dauphin defender during Central Dauphins 55-42 win over Trinity in the Mid-Penn girls basketball championship, February 13, 2020.Vicki Vellios Briner | Special to PennLiveVicki Vellios Briner | Special to PennLive

Accomplishments: Among the most versatile athletes in the Mid-Penn Conference, Sajer captained a pair of Trinity sports programs and is a two-time All-State pick in volleyball. In fact, Sajer was a 2019 nominee for the Under Armour High School All-American volleyball team. Awarded a national four-year Army ROTC Scholarship at Notre Dame, Duke University, the University of Delaware and Bucknell University, Sajer opted to focus on physical, mental and leadership training in South Bend. Sajer has worked as marketing intern for Pennsylvania Wounded Warriors, developing a campaign that has raised approximately $145,000 to support servicemen and women in Pa. Sajer, a member of Trinitys French Foreign Language Honors Society, also served as a property manager in her family business, and worked as a school mentor and activities leader.

Gery Schnarrs, East Pennsboro

Gery Schnarrs of East Pennsboro field hockey during high school football media day on July 31, 2019.Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

Varsity sports: Field Hockey (4 letters), Track and Field (2 letters)

College choice: University of Virginia

Finalists voice: I would tell young athletes to stay at it. Obviously, you are going to face a lot of obstacles. You are going to think a lot of times that, maybe if you dont make a team, you should move on to something different? I think its important to stay at it and keep following what you want to do. I think thats how you succeed. If you want to do it, then I think thats where youre going to put most of your effort.

Describe yourself in one word: Determined

Gery Schnarrs, East Pennsboro M/D (Univ. of Virginia). The Mid-Penn is overflowing with field hockey players who will take their talents to the next level. Oct. 24, 2019. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

Accomplishments: Ever since the Virginia recruit broke onto the field hockey scene, scoring 10 goals with 12 assists as a freshman, Schnarrs has impacted the Mid-Penn Conference and beyond. A current member of USA Womens National Indoor Development team, Schnarrs capped her brilliant run with a spot on Max Field Hockeys HS All-American team. She holds East Pennsboro career mark with 198 points and earned multiple All-State appointments. The Panthers won four straight division titles, and four trips to states, with No. 37 digging in. A Scholar of Distinction on the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Academic team, Schnarrs has served as treasurer for three different school programs, including that National Honors Society. A Girl Scouts Gold Award winner through her Get in the Game initiative. Schnarrs also won a Silver Presidential Volunteer Service Award last year and coordinated multiple service drives like Purses for a Purpose for the homeless and a bedding rive for the Speranza Animal Shelter. Shes also volunteered with the Bethesda Mission Womens Shelter, Salvation Army and more.

Marlee Starliper, Northern

Northern's Marlee Starliper shows off her NC State gear Sunday after committing to the Wolfpack.

Varsity sports: Cross Country (4 letters), Track and Field (4 letters), Indoor Track (4 letters)

College choice: North Carolina State

Finalists voice: I aspire to run professionally after college with the hope of having a long career in which I can pursue qualifying for several Olympic teams. Another aspect of y athletic goals is to continue enjoying the sport, have fun discovering more of my capabilities, and be a positive impact within the running community and beyond.

Describe yourself in one word: Passionate

Northern's Marlee Starliper trails Greencastle's Taryn Parks in the AAA 1600 meter run during day 2 of the 2019 PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. May 25, 2019 Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM

Accomplishments: Starlipers resume is overflowing with state and national records, including three consecutive PIAA cross country titles. She was runner-up as a freshman. Pa.s Gatorade Cross County Player of the Year three times, Starliper also twice claimed Foot Locker Northeast regional titles and was runner-up at Foot Locker Nationals in the fall. She now holds the states all-time mark. On the track, Starliper is a four-time state champion and her mile (4:37) and 3k (9:07) standards rank No. 1 nationally. Invited to the Reykjavik Games in Iceland by the National Scholastic Athletic Foundation, Starliper finished third in the 800. Shes also competed for USATF in the Pan-American Games in Costa Rica, becoming a U20 national champion. An active member of the World Harvest Outreach Church in Chambersburg, Starliper has participated in Direct Call, a student-led Christian group at Northern, volunteered as a Special Olympics buddy and served a regular speaker to middle school cross country and tracks teams about nutrition. Recently, Starliper signed to write and illustrate a childrens book in Spanish.

Maddie Zimmer, Hershey

Maddie Zimmer, Hershey MF (Northwestern). The Mid-Penn is overflowing with field hockey players who will take their talents to the next level. Oct. 24, 2019. Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

Varsity sports: Field Hockey (4 letters), Lacrosse (3 letters)

College choice: Northwestern University

Finalists voice: This winter Ive actually been helping to coach at multiple field hockey clubs. I never thought I would like it, but I actually really like coaching the little girls. I didnt think I had the patience for it, but they improved so much and its so rewarding to see how excited they are. Thats how I was when I was their age. All I wanted to do was play field hockey and its so exciting to be a part of their journey. Its so rewarding and fun to watch.

Describe yourself in one word: Dedicated

Hershey's Maddie Zimmer brings the ball down field against Lower Dauphin in their high school field hockey game at Hershey. Sept. 11, 2019.Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com

Accomplishments: As one of the nations top field hockey players in her class, Zimmer is a four-time All-State pick and high school All-American in her final two seasons. The midfielder also led the Trojans to the PIAA Class 3A title in 2018. She also earned US Lacrosse All-American honors as a junior. Continuing to rehab an ACL tear she suffered in November, Zimmer is planning to compete for the U21 U.S. National Field Hockey Team against Ireland in June. Her first cap came against Canada last summer. After Ireland will be the Junior Pan American Games in Chile, an official qualifier for the 21 Junior World Cup. Continuing to make an impact in her community, Zimmer has coached youth field hockey and lacrosse programs, donated her time to Purses full of Hope, raised funds for the Walk for Clean Water Organization and co-chaired the Herren Project, a non-profit that supports families with addiction and prevention of substance abuse.

2020 Travers Award female nominees

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Meet the 5 female finalists for the 2020 M&T Bank John Travers Award - PennLive

Welcome to FT Health, a monthly guide to the big issues at the intersection of global health and finance. Technology and investment are changing the face of healthcare while coronavirus is bringing an unprecedented focus on the worlds health systems. This newsletter delivers news, interviews, data and the best health journalism from across the web. Send us feedback at health@ft.com.

FT subscribers can sign up for the email versionhereand non- subscribershere.

Coronavirus: the dangers of distraction

Despite the intensifying globalisation of travel, trade and information in recent years, the current pandemic like those of the past shows that most countries only respond to an infection when it arrives on their doorstep. While health services are understandably focused on handling the surge of patients, the pandemic response highlights at least three risky distractions.

The first is the tension between short and long-term medical responses. While in most countries the current focus is on a lockdown of people to limit the spread of infection, along with urgently improving supplies of protection equipment, respirators and test kits for frontline workers, there is a need to start reflecting on an exit strategy.

As someresearchersare now arguing, efforts will need to escalate to differentiate between the most vulnerable and others who have survived infection and developed immunity, so they can return to essential work and support the economic recovery. Otherwise, the financial and associated health burden of poverty and isolation will end up being heavy. The models driving much of current policy do not considereconomic and ethicalfactors.

The second is the balance between coronavirus and existing burdensome illnesses. There are already reports of patients with cancer and other conditionsreceiving lower priority. High rates of childhood vaccination against preventable diseases will be difficult to sustain with prolonged social distancing. In lower-income countries, people with infections such as tuberculosis risk being turned away.

A final concern is the move away from international to domestic solidarity. Countries have closed borders, sought to restrict export of medical supplies and limited financial aid to their neighbours.But the neglect of international effortsto support or even focus on Africa and other poorer regions risks causing a disproportionatefinancial burden. In refugee camps, with scant medical support or even soap, thehuman tollcould be devastating.

To its credit, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria has announcedup to 5 per centof its grants can be spent on Covid-19. More countries need to show similar solidarity to mitigate the damage to others or face the repercussions themselves.

Recommended links

Sir Alimuddin Zumla, Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University College London, and joint guest editor of the International Journal of Infectious Diseasespecial issue on TB.

Following World TB Day, what progress and pitfalls do you see in tackling the disease?

We are moving forward, but very slowly. New drugs are being rolled out, with a simpler, shorter all-oral treatment, and Im optimistic well have a vaccine in 2-3 years time. We have seen political commitment fromthe presidents of Indonesia, Mozambique and the Philippines; the prime ministers of India and Pakistan andNigerias First Lady. I hope it is now backed by domestic fundingand their attention is not distracted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

How worried are you that coronavirus is proving a distraction?

Whole health services are now focused on Covid-19. Cancerpatients are having access problems. In Africa, we need to keep regular services afloat. Social distancing will make TB support challenging. Ministers are being politically pushed to respond because youve got to be seen to be doing something. But the best thing they can do is to make sure current services for TB, as well as HIV, malaria and maternal and child health, are not disturbedand Covid-19 is aligned to them.

Are there better ways to connect the medical response to TB and coronavirus?

There is a programme to expand TB GeneXpert diagnostics test equipment for coronavirus. Bothcause lethalrespiratory tract infections. People present with the same symptomsof cough, fever and breathlessness. We should take the opportunity to aligncommunitymessages and exploit synergiesin health services provisionincluding around diagnosis. With TB, as with Covid-19, we need to focus on the host, not the pathogen. For TB, that means tackling malnutrition, poverty, stress and poor living conditions.

Read more on the pandemics effect in our free-to-access collection of data and graphics. Heres an explainervideo on how we calculate the diseases trajectory.

Financing the crisis The IMF and World Bank are facing unprecedented demands from developing countries for help fighting coronavirus. The UN has called for a $2.5tn rescue package but the UN Security Council has been criticised for beingparalysed by theUS/China showdown over who was to blame for the disease spreading. Five world leaders wrote in the FT on the need for geopolitical turf wars to be set aside. (FT, Guardian, Foreign Policy, FT)

Chinas soft power After initial criticism of the way it handled the epidemic, China is keen to show itself as a responsible global power, sending doctors and masks overseas as its rates of domestic infections drop.

DRC: On life support The worlds biggest outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one example of serious disease that has had little publicity in the shadow of Covid-19. A Unicef report highlights a health system struggling to cope with Ebola, cholera, malaria and measles amid ongoing armed conflict. (Al Jazeera, Unicef)

Safer surgery At least 42m people worldwide die within 30 days of surgery each year, and half of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries. New surgical guidelines aim to save thousands of these lives, especially in the poorer countries that are disproportionately affected. (British Journal of Surgery)

Inequality in global healthThe new edition of theGlobal Health 50/50report says inequalities in power, privilege and priorities are undermining global health efforts. More than 80 per cent of those who lead the big international health organisations are from high-income countries and just five per cent are women from low- and middle-income countries. At the current rate of progress, gender parity in senior management will not be achieved until 2074. (Global Health 50/50)

Focus on...TBAs Sir Alimuddin Zumla notes in our interview above, progress on tackling diseases such as tuberculosis still the worlds top infectious killer could suffer from the worlds focus on Covid-19. The WHO says the preventive treatment agreed by world leaders in 2018 has fallen far short of its target. In that year alone, 10m people fell ill with TB and 1.5m lost their lives. TB also remains the top cause of death among people with HIV. Spending on TBin south-east Asia needs to be doubled from current levels to $2bn a year to make a serious attempt at ending the disease.As with coronavirus, young people remain key to prevention. (WHO, BMJ, The Conversation)

Hunt for coronavirus drugThe WHO and Unitaid, the UN-backed group funding global innovation, welcomed a proposal from Costa Rica for companies to pool intellectual property for all medical interventions, enabling governments or generic drugmakers to manufacture and sell at much lower prices. A therapeutics accelerator is giving $20m to speed drug trials.

Scientists are investigating three main types of drug: antiviralsto stop the virus from replicating; anti-inflammatories that treat the lungs after the immune system isoverwhelmed; and antibodies derived either from recovered Covid-19 patients or developed in labs, to be given to the seriously ill or as a temporary prophylactic for healthcare workers. (FT)

Vaccines and testsJohnson & Johnsonannounced a potential vaccine for Covid-19 that could be available early next year.The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is sponsoring severalvaccine projects, although Richard Hatchett, who heads this partnershipof governments, industry and charities, voiced fears about unequal access to treatment. He referredto the H1N1 flu in 2009, when the wealthiest countries secured contracts for deliveries of treatments that monopolised supplies. Tobaccocompanies are also getting involved. See too our guide to coronavirustesting.(FT, Devex)

Disease mappingAn innovative attempt at plugging health gaps in areas without detailed maps is blendingsatellite imagerywith machine-learning algorithms. (Devex)

Washing and sanitationIf theres one public health essential weve learned over the past few months, its the importance of washing your hands. But what if you dont have access to clean water? World Water Day this month was a time to remember that 40 per cent of the worlds people lack access to basic handwashing facilities at home, and 780m have no access to a quality water source. A UN reportsays climate change makes the goal of achieving access to safe drinking water and sanitation within ten years difficult. (Reliefweb, UN Water)

Tackling obesityChildhood obesity, recognised by the WHO as oneof the worlds most serious public health challenges,is linked to higher risk of anxiety, depression and premature death. People with obesity in childhood have a three-times higher risk of dying in early adulthood than their peers. An urban health foundation in London is taking a data-driven approach to tackling the problem. (PLoS Medicine, FT)

Combating diabetes Obesity is also a key driver of (Type-2) diabetes. An estimated four-fifths of diabetics, more than 336m people, live in lower- and middle-income countries, but there is no equivalent for the disease of the large-scale international support given to organisations such as the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. Read the full FT report:Combating Diabetes

HIV hopes and fearsResearch has now been published on only the second HIV patientever to be cured of the disease, thanks to a stem cell transplant from donors with a HIV-resistant gene. Africanswith a disability are at much higher risk of HIV and less likely to receive treatment.Read how the discovery of HIV led to a transatlantic research war. (The Lancet HIV, Economist, PBS)

Fighting FGM UN targets to end female genital mutilation by 2030 are seriously off track, according to a coalition of global campaign groups. Unicef figures show FGM is inflicted on at least 200m women and girls in 31 countries, 27 of which are in Africa, and are likely to be grossly understated.(Equality Now)

Drug prices and UHCHigh medicine prices are a real threat to fledgling universal health coverage schemes. This study looks at the alternative ofvalue-basedtiered pricingwhich reflects both the ability of different countries to pay and the value that any medicine provides to local patients.

Children with cancer Some 11m children will die of cancer between now and 2050 without additional investment. The disease kills more than 100,000 children a year but 80 per cent of these cases are curable. Lowand middle-income countries where children have poor access to health services are disproportionately affected. (Lancet Oncology)

Climate change Heat stress, caused by the bodys inability to cool down properly through sweating, could affect more than 1.2bn people a year by 2100, says a new study more than four times the number affected today. Some want the WHO to declare climate change a global public health emergency. (Environmental Research Letters, BMJ)

Antibiotic alert A meta-study of antibiotic use shows three trends: city dwellers use more than those in rural areas; the elderly use more than the middle-aged, and usage decreases as education increases but only in rich countries. (International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health)

Coronavirus vaccine Seth Berkley, head of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, urges governments to set aside nationalism in the search for avaccine.(CBC, 13m)

The pandemic and the poorWhat does the coronavirus crisis mean for low-income countries and international development? A discussion with Amanda Glassman of the Center for Global Development.(UN Global Dispatches, 28m)

Urban healthHow do you build a healthy city? FT correspondents discuss initiatives in six cities, from tackling loneliness in Copenhagen to healthier eating in Tokyo.

Obamacare turns ten A discussion on the history, impact and prospects for the Affordable Care Act, which gave millions of Americans access to healthcare, but remains under threat. (Kaiser What the Health, 46m)

Epidemics in moviesWhat do films like Contagion tell us about societys view of epidemics? Some depict disease as a threat to society from outside, foreign forces, while others address threats to liberty, but both are linked to a breakdown in trust.(CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases, 32m)

April 7World Health Daycelebrating the work of nurses and midwives

April 14 FirstWorld Chagas Disease Day

April 19-20 G20 (virtual) meeting of health ministers, Riyadh

April 24-30 World Immunisation Week

April 25World Malaria Day

May 6 Next issue of FT Health

Contact Email us viahealth@ft.com, like us onFacebook and follow us on Twitter@fthealth andLinkedIn.

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Many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes, writesYuval Noah Hararion the world after coronavirus. The storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come.

Read more:
FT Health: Coronavirus and the dangers of distraction - Financial Times

When it comes to tropical fruits, Norwich probably isnt the first place that springs to mind. But here, in a drab research park at the edge of the East Anglian city, a team of banana experts led by a former Israeli naval commander is working feverishly to save the fruit from extinction.

Bananas are the fourth most important food crop globally, its the most consumed and produced food, says Gilad Gershon, chief executive of Tropic Biosciences.

The start-up, which moved to Norwich in 2016, consists of a team of almost 50 scientists and researchersworking onediting the genes of bananas to protect them againstdiseases.

Its for a good reason. For more than 20 years, tropical race 4 (TR4), a soil-borne strain of the Fusarium wilt fungus, has been slowly making its way across the world from south-east Asia, threatening to wreak havoc on the global banana industry.

In 2013, the fungus was discovered on a farm in northern Mozambique, before making its way to Colombia, where it was detected last year, leading to a national state of emergency.Bananas are a major crop and a mainstay of the countrys agricultural economy.

As the worlds fourth largest exporter of bananas, the arrival of the disease in South America has created a problem for the industry. The disease disrupts the vascular systems of plants and can live in the soilfor decades.

There is an additional problem.

Bananas are uniquely vulnerable to disease because a single strain of the fruit, known as theCavendish banana, overwhelmingly dominates the global industry making it highly susceptible.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the Cavendish banana accounts for50pc of global production, while constituting almost 100pc of the global export market, worth more than $13.6bn (10.6bn).

The disease is a significant threat for the banana sector, particularly for the Cavendish bananas, not only from the supply point of view but also for the economies of the banana producing countries and livelihoods of smallholder producers, says Fazil Dusunceli, agriculture officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Tropic Biosciences, which raised $10m in a Series A round in 2018, has since been doubling down on efforts to find ways of protecting the Cavendish banana from wipeout.

Cavendish bananas are asexual, which means they cant be bred in a way that eliminates the genes putting them at risk, according to Gershon. So the company has put its gene-editing technology to work to mitigate challenges from the fungus.

The impact is potentially catastrophic for the banana industry the exposure here is massive because you have a single banana, he says. The weight on our shoulders as a company today is very high. Theres not a lot of people solving this massive banana issue in the world.

There is a lot at stake. The population of the Tropics will grow by over 500m people by 2030, accounting for half the worlds population. This creates an unprecedented need for more productive and environmentally friendly agricultural production. Nor are concerns over a banana plight unwarranted.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Gros Michel banana, which went by the nickname Big Mike, was the most popular variant of the fruit, with exports from Central America to the US and Europe dominating the trade.

The singular focus on Gros Michel, a small banana described as having a tartish aftertaste, proved to be lucrative but ran a risk. In the Fifties, the United Fruit Company, a US firm that established sprawling plantations in places such as Costa Rica and Guatemala, led to the development of so-called banana republics that forced economies into a dependence on a genetically limited crop.

A collapse was inevitable. Amid growing rebellion from locals who demanded higher wages, the United Fruit Companys annual profits of $65m came under pressure when tropical race 1, a strain, of the fungal Panama disease, infected the fruit and brought commercial production to a screeching halt.

Its the kind of threat banana producers are desperate to prevent but the risk of history repeating itself, with an industry dependent on the export of a single type of banana again, is obvious.

For Gershon, it means that there is work to be done. After six years in the Israel Defence Forces, where he commanded a ship as a Lt Commander, the Tropic Biosciences boss made a foray into venture capital, becoming a senior investor at Pontifax Agtech, a Los Angeles-based fund specialising in food and agriculture technology.

In that capacity I became more and more aware of the promise of gene editing from a financial perspective. Its a technology that significantly speeds up and simplifies the process of developing genetically-engineered plant products, he says.

For Gershons Norwich-based start-up, which is also working on cutting the caffeine content of coffee, gene editing technologies have become a critical tool to protect thebanana.

Originally based in Israel and the US, Tropic Biosciences picked Norwich as a location four years ago because of the supply of skilled local scientists from the university and the John Innes Centre, an independent international centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology.

Specifically, one of the main tools in the firms arsenal of tools is CRISPR, a technology that significantly reduces the cost of editing genes the essential coding for biology. It works by using a protein to cut away at sequences of DNA that might code for unfavourable traits.

At first, when the start-up began to look at bananas, it picked traits it described aslow-hanging fruit: extending the shelf-life of bananas and reducing the speed at which they turnbrown. Then it recognised their potential to tackle the impending threat to the bananas survival.

Its technology works by taking a banana flower from a place like Colombia and reducing it to millions of stem cells in cultures. Then,sequences of the Cavendish banana genes that make it susceptible to TR4 fungus are cut out.

The cells grow back in a room lit with pink neon lights, set to a temperature of 26C. They then become edited seedlings that can be sent back out to the world for full-scale growth.

According to Dusunceli, emerging technologies like this offer the chance to develop resistant varieties, but pose some issues. The issue is agronomic performance of the products and acceptance by the producers and consumers, he says.

Gershon recognises the challenges some people face in embracing food that has been edited, but is keen to highlight that the bananas it grows do not involve the injection of foreign DNA.

People have very strong feelings towards bananas and the idea of this crop being potentially lost due to this disease highlights the need to address it, he says.

There are other difficulties. Once the disease is established in a field there is no way of eradicating it, which means the plot can no longer be used to grow the fruit. Areas impacted by the latest strain have reached 100,000 hectares globally, and as Dusunceli explains: The risk of expansion isreal.

The technology may also face some barriers. The efficiency of taking the CRISPR into the cells is low. Its not like in humans, the plants have cell walls, says Dr Ofir Meir, chief technology officer at Tropic Biosciences.

But there appear to be few other options, particularly as the banana industry already walks a tightrope. Panama disease and a few other very big diseases that are already quite spread have the potential to shift the balance from a slim margin to a losing industry, Gershon says.

The ultimate solution for experts would be the prevention of the disease with expert control and management before it reaches a banana field, but as Gershon indicates, the future of the banana could depend on the willingness of people to accept an artificially altered fruit.Its hard for me to imagine today any solution not coming from gene editing.

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The race to save the banana from extinction - Telegraph.co.uk

Nature has its way of keeping things in balance. When it comes to body weight, the key regulator is leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells. When fat storage increases, leptin informs the brain to lower appetiteand vice versa. Thats how the body balances its fat stores and food intake, keeping them within a fine range.

In some people, however, the system miscalculates. For the past 25 years, since leptin was first discovered by Rockefellers Jeffrey M. Friedman, scientists have wanted to understand exactly how changes in the hormones function may lead to obesity, an ever-worsening public health problem that now affects more than 650 million adults worldwide. Some have suggested that the disease is caused by problems in leptins faithful reporting of fat levels to the brain; others have argued that it is in fact due to the brains failure to respond to the hormone.

It turns out this internal calibrator can go kaput in different ways in different people.

In a study published in Nature Medicine earlier this year, Friedman, the Marilyn M. Simpson Professor, and his collaborators suggest that at least 10 percent of obese people may be genetically incapable of producing sufficient leptin at all. No matter how much fat is stored in the body, their leptin levels remain low.

These people have less leptin from an early age, making them a little bit hungrier than everyone else, says Olof Dallner, a research associate and the lead author of the study.

A typical leptin-deficient mouse weighs 1.94 times more than the average lab mouse.

The researchers traced the problem to a type of RNA that seems to regulate how much leptin is produced. When the team engineered mice without this specific RNA, and fed them a high-fat diet, the mice kept accumulating fat to the point of becoming obese, but their leptin levels nevertheless remained low. Another group of unaltered mice munching on the same unhealthy diet became a little chubby, toobut this group produced normal amounts of leptin, which appears to have kept them from becoming outright obese.

Theres compelling evidence that these findings might pertain to humans, too. When the team looked at the genetic profiles of more than 46,000 people, they found that alterations in the human version of the same RNA are linked with lower leptin levels. Some people, this work suggests, may have a subtype of obesity thats potentially treatable with leptin therapy. That was indeed the case with the low-leptin mice: When the animals received injections of leptin, they lost weight.

All of this is good news for people with leptin-curbing mutations. But most obese people gain weight not because of too little leptin but because their brain has stopped responding to it. For this group, there may be other avenues for therapyfor example, targeting the brain networks that control not just how much we eat, but also how much energy we burn.

In a recent study published in Cell, Friedmans team identified a group of neurons in the brain stem that do just that. In mice, turning the neurons off triggers the burning of fat to produce body heat, and also decreases hunger. It suggests that these multitalented cells could be powerful levers for managing body weightespecially if they could be targeted with drugs.

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When zombies take over the brain - The Rockefeller University Newswire

Stem Cell Therapy involves the use of stem cells to treat different diseases. These are non-differentiated cells of a multicellular organism. All the cells in the body are specialized for a specific function but they are the only cells without an assigned function. They can differentiate into any type of cell as and when required by the body and can proliferate rapidly to produce multiple copies of a specific type. Sources of stem cells are embryos and adult body tissues. In the adults, stem cells are present in bone marrow, brain, liver, skin, skeletal muscles, blood and blood vessels. While embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst. Nowadays, Umbilical cord is being stored under suitable conditions to get stem cells from it if needed. This is useful as chances of transplant rejection are less because stem cells are derived from your own umbilical cord.

Bone Marrow Transplant is the most commonly used method to treat various types of cancers such as lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia, etc. through stem cells. It is also used to treat brain diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cell deficiencies such as diabetes mellitus. Recently, anti-aging stem cell treatments have gain fame. It is used to restore your youth and beauty.

The procedure of stem cell therapy starts with removing stem cells from your body or from the donors body. The cells are collected from different body parts depending upon the need. After collection, the cells are processed according to the purpose for which they are extracted. The processed stem cells are injected into the specific area of your body using ultrasound or X-ray guidance. Anesthetics are used and the procedure is done under sterile conditions. It is necessary to make sure that the cells are reaching the desired area so that the improvement is better and quicker. There are three types of stem cell transplant:

Each type of stem cell transplant involves different methods, procedures, and techniques with different side effects and risks. The one suitable for you depends upon your age, health, and physical conditions.

The length of stay in the hospital varies in accordance with the condition for which stem cell therapy is being done. It is usually a 3 to 4 hours procedure (in-patient) in which stem cells are introduced into the body using syringes or catheter. Different factors are considered to decide the length of your stay in the hospital. These factors are:

Your stay in the hospital is longer for an allogeneic transplant as compared to an autologous transplant and you're free to leave Costa Rica the very next day, although it's advised to stay at least a few days in case you have further questions for the medical staff. But of course, these can be asked over the phone/email or directed towards your local medical team back home.

Complete recovery time varies from 2 to 12 weeks when the patient begins to feel pain relief. However, you can return to your routine work a couple of days after going through the transplant. Recovery depends upon your physical condition before and after the transplant. Over a period of 6 to 12 months, further improvements are seen in the patients. During the process, antibiotics and other drugs are prescribed. These drugs prevent transplant rejection and graft-host diseases. Allogenic stem cell transplant takes longer to recover than an autologous transplant.

It is advised to keep in contact with your doctor and to visit him/her on a regular basis. Apart from this, the following points should be considered:

There is asignificant success rate seen in patients having gone through the transplant, however, it is not always successful due to various reasons, one being the transplant rejection. This is common in the allogeneic type of stem cell transplant.

Exosomes are being used as an alternative to stem cell therapy. They are lipid bilayer surrounded vesicles secreted by live cells. They contain mRNA, proteins, chaperons, and various signaling molecules. They work as a natural carrier system for the transport of these substances. They function as a messenger within the body carrying information from one cell to the other. Stem cell therapy can be enhanced using exosomes. They help the bodys natural healing ability to increase the pace of recovery. Sometimes, stem cell therapy and exosomes are given together for better results.

Stem cell therapy is mostly being used for the treatment of cancer patients. Before the therapy, cancer cells are present within the body. After going through the therapy, stem cells replace cancer cells with healthy cells. This treats cancer, giving the patient a healthy life.

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10 Best Clinics for Stem Cell Therapy in Costa Rica [2020 ...

The San Diego Zoos project to save the northern white rhino is now researching how to make sperm and egg cells to help resurrect the nearly extinct species, a zoo scientist said Thursday.

Marisa Korody, a conservation genetics scientist at the zoos Institute for Conservation research, gave the update to a scientific audience at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla.

ICR scientists have developed induced pluripotent stem cells from frozen tissue samples, Korody said. These cells act like embryonic stem cells. In theory, they can be converted into nearly any cell type in the body.

A number of tests have confirmed that these are true pluripotent stem cells, she said, displaying a video of beating heart cells, or cardiomyocytes, made from the cells.

In theory, sperm and egg cells can be united to produce embryos, which can be implanted into closely related southern white rhino females, serving as surrogate mothers. Six of these are now being trained at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

But making these gametes is complicated, she said. They require supporting structures to mature properly, and nobody knows how to determine if they do mature properly. This means the zoo and colleagues are performing original science.

So-called primordial germ cells, the common ancestor of eggs and sperm, have arisen spontaneously. But they need to be reliably generated under controlled circumstances.

All rhino species and subspecies are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching for their horns, Korody said. Its our fault, we really need to help these species, she said.

On the positive side, Korody said the dozen or so tissue samples from northern white rhinos contains enough genetic diversity to bring back a viable population.

This is known because that diversity is greater than that in the southern white rhino, which rebounded from near-extinction to a population of about 18,000.

A long-discussed state initiative to refund Californias stem cell program with $5.5 billion has at last begun.

Backers filed the initiative Thursday, according to the California Stem Cell Report, which closely tracks the program, called the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM. If it gets 633,212 valid signatures, the initiative will appear on the November 2020 ballot.

CIRM was founded by the passage of Proposition 71 in 2004. It got $3 billion from the sale of state bonds. It has been severely criticized for overpromising the speed at which stem cell treatments would get to patients. Advocates said the agency has had to go slow because of safety reasons.

Theres also the question of whether the agency should get more money, or whether its work should be transferred to private entities. California has the biggest biomedical industry in the nation, but it also has billions in state liabilities for purposes such as pensions. Critics say the state needs to address these unfunded liabilities.

Robert N. Klein, a real estate investment banker who led the original campaign to create CIRM, said in a recent interview that the new funding was necessary to ensure that therapies now in the clinic can reach patients.

The initiative sets aside $1.5 billion for research and development of treatments for neurological conditions, such as Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and stroke. It also provides money to help disadvantaged patients receive these treatments, Klein said.

Patients who live far away from major academic centers may have difficulty arranging to stay nearby while awaiting or receiving treatment, Klein said.

Initiative supporters need to convince the public that the $5.5 billion from state bonds is a wise use of public money. Earlier this week, a study from University of Southern California professors said that it was.

CIRM, funded with $3 billion from state bonds, has yielded $10.7 billion of additional gross output, or sales revenue, the study said. In addition, more than 56,000 full-time jobs were created. Go to http://j.mp/cirmeireport for the study.

The agency said the study and another report were funded by $206,000 from CIRM, which said the study was independent.

However, the California Stem Cell Report said the study didnt convince critics of the agency, who said the agency has received enough money as it is.

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Saving rhinos with stem cells; $5.5 billion stem cell ballot measure readied - The San Diego Union-Tribune

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WKRG) Osteoarthritis affects millions of people in the US. Symptoms range from minor pain to crippling pain that compromises quality of life. A groundbreaking study is underway at four prestigious research facilities in the United States. One of those is right here on the Gulf Coast. Tonight, Drexel Gilbert is on the road in Gulf Breeze.

Lori Jamison is a Pensacola native who, as a teenager, played basketball at Pine Forest High School. Today, she suffers from osteoarthritis in her knee. She believes its a result of basketball injuries.

I get stiffness, it interferes with my mobility. Sometimes its like a sharp needle going down your leg. When I go to the movie theater, I have to sit on the back row so I can stretch it out, Jamison said. She is participating in a clinical trial at Andrews Research and Education Foundation in Gulf Breeze.

The research is studying stem cell treatment for osteoarthritis in the knee. AREF is one of only four facilities in the country participating in the study. The others are Emory Orthopedics & Spine Center, Duke University and Sanford Health. Researchers hope it leads to FDA approval for the treatment. If that happens, it could be life-changing for patients.

Hopefully reduce their pain if not actually get rid of their pain. That is our goal. We want to delay, if not prevent, total knee replacement, said Dr. Josh Hackel, who is the primary investigator for the Andrews phase of the study. Were comparing three different stem cell sources. Bone marrow from their pelvis, adipose- thats tissue from their belly fat- and the third is umbilical cord tissue donated from pregnant mothers.

The bone marrow and belly fat stem cells are harvested from the study participants, under local anesthesia. The stem cells are later implanted into the knee joint using ultrasound guidance to implant the cells into the knee joint.

Jamison has already undergone stem cell harvesting.

It was very easy, very convenient, no downtime after the procedure was done, Jamison said

This $13 million clinical trial is being funded entirely by a grant from Bernie Marcus, founder of the Marcus Foundation and co-founder of Home Depot. Osteoarthritis is an issue that is close to the philanthropists heart because his mother was left disabled by the illness at a young age.

There will be around 120 participants at each of the four sites. There are plenty of openings. If youd like to be considered for the study, call AREF at 850-916-8591.

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Drexel on the Road: Stem cell study for osteoarthritis - WKRG News 5

Michael J. Holtzman, MD, has received close to $7.5 million in total funding for research aimed at developing stem cell-based treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and other disorders.

Holtzmans research atWashington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified a subset of stem cells cells that are able to grow into other more specialized types of cells that line the airways and help drive mucus production in the lungs.

Stem cells that give rise to mucus cells lining the airway and other sites are part of our immune defense strategy, Holtzman, the director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, said in a university press releasewritten by Julia Evangelou Strait.

These cells are activated by common respiratory viruses and other inhaled agents, and prevent airway injury and promote repair.

Once the problem is resolved, the [immune] system should go back to a normal baseline level. But in some people, the stem cell is changed in a way that continues to promote inflammation and mucus production and ultimately compromises airway function even for normal breathing, Holtzman said.

Thus, Holtzmans team is searching fortherapeutic targets to control this stem cell response.

The largest of the grants hes received at $6.6 million is the outstanding investigator award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Instituteof theNational Institutes of Health (NIH), given to researchers with proven expertise in innovative research and considered likely to make major advances. The grant will provide seven years of funding for research intended to further characterize these cells and their underlying mechanisms of action.

The award also supports ongoing efforts to identify pharmacological strategies to manipulate these stem cells. One lead compound has shown promise in animal models, preventing airway inflammation and mucus production after a respiratory viral infection.

Pending clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, clinical trials for this potential therapy are planned in people with COPD, asthma exacerbations, and related upper airway disorders.

Holtzman also received a NIH Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) of $300,000 to support a startup company he launched in anticipation of the successful development of these treatments.

Besides lung diseases, Holtzman received another $300,000 STT and a $250,000 award from the Siteman Investment Program in support of a stem cell-targeting compound aimed at treating breast cancer.

Your first reaction might be to wonder how in the world such similar compounds could be effective in what seem to be such different tissues, Holtzman said. But airway and breast tissues and other related sites share secretory function and overlap in how this function is controlled.

As a result, he concluded, our compounds can be precisely tailored to address whether the dysregulated stem cell is in airway versus breast tissue, or other sites as well.

Marisa holds an MS in Cellular and Molecular Pathology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied novel genetic drivers of ovarian cancer. She specializes in cancer biology, immunology, and genetics. Marisa began working with BioNews in 2018, and has written about science and health for SelfHacked and the Genetics Society of America. She also writes/composes musicals and coaches the University of Pittsburgh fencing club.

Total Posts: 157

Patrcia holds her PhD in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from the Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. She has studied Applied Biology at Universidade do Minho and was a postdoctoral research fellow at Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon, Portugal. Her work has been focused on molecular genetic traits of infectious agents such as viruses and parasites.

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To Find Therapies for COPD, Other Disorders, Researcher Awarded $7.5M - COPD News Today

Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta and host of A Users Guide to Cheating Death

It happened with stem-cell research. Ditto genetics and precision medicine. And now we are seeing it play out with microbiome research. Good science is being exploited to market bunk products and ideas.

Gut hype is everywhere.

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The pattern is now familiar, as highlighted by what happened with regenerative medicine. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, stem-cell research started receiving a massive amount of media coverage. It was presented as a potentially revolutionizing field of study. This hyped language was then exploited by clinics around the world to push unproven and dangerous stem-cell therapies. And now regulators, including the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. and Health Canada, are trying to contain the mess.

Microbiome research is headed down the same path, but at an accelerated pace.

There is no doubt that the human microbiome the vast collection of microorganisms that live on and in all of us plays an important role in our health and well-being. Researchers around the world are now studying the complex relationship between the microbiome and a range of conditions, including obesity, depression and cardiovascular disease. This is a genuinely exciting area of scientific inquiry with great promise. Indeed, Im involved with an interdisciplinary research team, led by the University of British Columbias Stuart Turvey, exploring the impact of the microbiome on the development of childhood asthma.

But it is still early days for microbiome research. There are, in fact, only a few microbiome-related interventions that are ready for the clinic, such as the use of probiotics to help prevent diarrhea when taking antibiotics and fecal transplants for the treatment of a particular severe intestinal infection. Despite this reality, the idea that the microbiome is relevant to our health in ways that are immediately applicable to the massive wellness industry has permeated pop culture incredibly quickly. (A Google Trends analysis of the word microbiome in the United States reveals an increase in interest starting around 2013.) The ubiquity of microbiome-related products and promises often framed in the rhetoric of gut health has led to growing concern that the research is being inappropriately hyped.

As with stem cells, the language of microbiome research is now being used to legitimize some potentially harmful and thoroughly unproven alternative therapies, including the idea that we need to do regular colonics (basically, an enema) to cleanse and detox our bodies.

As is so often the case, proponents of these kinds of alternative gut-health practices want the best of both worlds. They want to situate the therapy as both ageless wisdom (many ancient civilizations practised inner cleansing) and rooted in modern, cutting-edge science (colonic hydrotherapy helps to detoxify the colon and increase peristaltic activity). And they claim it has both amorphous wellness benefits (youre feeling lighter, your futures brighter) and can treat serious health conditions (one of the most important high-blood-pressure natural remedies).

But despite the use of ancient anecdotes and science-y, microbiome-infused language, there is absolutely no evidence to support the practice or the too-good-to-be-true claims. Indeed, studies have found that while colon cleanses can affect the gut microbiome it is, after all, a pretty dramatic assault on your innards the change doesnt last. After a few weeks, our gut reverts back to its precolonic state.

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The language of gut health and microbiome research is also used to sell a range of foods and supplements. While research continues, there is still little evidence to support the use of probiotics by healthy individuals. As noted in a recent commentary in the journal The Lancet: increasing evidence suggests that both commercial and clinical use of probiotics is outpacing the science. And there may be situations where probiotics might even be harmful, adversely affecting the way our body reacts to some drugs. But the lack of evidence to support the claims of health benefit hasnt stopped the rapid expansion of the probiotic industry, which is estimated to be worth almost US$74-billion by 2024.

But perhaps the most absurd example of the twisting of microbiome research is the marketing surrounding the raw water phenomenon. Over the past few years, a number of bottled water companies have started offering water that is straight from the natural source, such as a stream or spring. It is untreated and unfiltered. One of the arguments for the practice is the idea that drinking raw water improves microbiome health because it contains healthy microbes and minerals removed by public water-treatment facilities. This is, of course, beyond absurd (as are the ridiculous prices people are willing to pay). The production and distribution of clean water is one of the single greatest public-health achievements. Raw water kills more than 500,000 people a year.

In this era of misinformation, scientists must take extra care not to hype their work. Indeed, we need the scientific community particularly those working in these emerging and genuinely exciting fields of study to speak up when science is being misrepresented. We need credible voices to explain what is and isnt currently possible.

And we all need to be aware that science-y language is often used to market bunk.

Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. Get the Opinion newsletter. Sign up today.

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Microbiome research needs a gut check - The Globe and Mail

A newly designed viral vector the vehicle that delivers a gene therapyto a patients cells for use insickle cell anemia is more efficient than earlier vectors at introducing healthy copies of genes into stem cells and can be produced in greater amounts, studies in animal models show.

The study Development of a forward-orientated therapeutic lentiviral vector for hemoglobin disorders was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that binds oxygen, allowing oxygen to be transported around the body. Mutations in the HBBgene, which encodes a component of hemoglobin, causessickle cell.

Gene therapies involve either altering the mutated gene or introducing a healthy version of that gene to the body. Still under development for sickle cell, an estimated 27 patients have undergone experimental gene therapy. One strategy involves removing hematopoietic stem cells (which function to produce blood cells) from a patients bone marrow. A healthy copy of the HBB gene is then introduced into the cells using a modified, harmless virus known as a viral vector. The cells are then transplanted back into the patient where they will produce healthy red blood cells.

Traditionally, viral vectors for sickle cell have been designed in a way known as reverse structural orientation. This means that the HBB gene is translated or read from right to left, like reading an English sentence backwards. The reverse structural orientation design ensures that a key section of the gene (known as intron 2), which is necessary for the production of high levels of the HBB gene, is retained during viral vector preparation.

However, this design makes preparing the viral vectors more difficult, and decreases the efficiency of introducing the gene into the stem cells.

Researchersat the National Institutes of Healthdesigned a new viral vector, one in which the HBB gene is forward orientated and read from left to right. Genes essential for the virus were inserted into intron 2, meaning that only vectors that retained intron 2 would be produced (a type of positive selection).

Our new vector is an important breakthrough in the field of gene therapy for sickle cell disease, John Tisdale, MD, chief of the Cellular and Molecular Therapeutic Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the studys senior author, said in a press release.

Its the new kid on the block and represents a substantial improvement in our ability to produce high capacity, high efficiency vectors for treating this devastating disorder, he added.

The researchers compared the new vectors to traditional reverse-orientated vectors in mouse and monkey models. The new vectors were four to 10 times more efficient at introducing the healthy HBBgene into the stem cells, and could carry up to six times more HBB genes compared to the conventional vectors.

Furthermore, the new vectors remained incorporated into the cells of monkeys up to four years after a transplant. These vectors could also be produced in greater amounts, which may lessen the time and costs required for large-scale vector production.

The researchers hope that these characteristics will make gene therapy for sickle cell disease more effective and increase its use. The new vector design still needs to be tested in clinical trials in patients.

Our lab has been working on improving beta-globin vectors for almost a decade and finally decided to try something radically different and it worked, Tisdale said.

These findings bring us closer to a curative gene therapy approach for hemoglobin disorders, he added.

Patricia holds her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from University Nova de Lisboa, and has served as an author on several research projects and fellowships, as well as major grant applications for European Agencies. She also served as a PhD student research assistant in the Laboratory of Doctor David A. Fidock, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University, New York.

Total Posts: 94

Margarida graduated with a BS in Health Sciences from the University of Lisbon and a MSc in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Tcnico (IST-UL). She worked as a molecular biologist research associate at a Cambridge UK-based biotech company that discovers and develops therapeutic, fully human monoclonal antibodies.

See the original post here:
New Viral Vector for Sickle Cell Gene Therapy Likely to Be More Effective, NIH Study Says - Sickle Cell Anemia News

This article, written byKatharine Sedivy-Haley, University of British Columbia, originally appeared on The Conversation and is republished here with permission:

When I was applying to graduate school in 2012, it felt like stem cells were about to revolutionize medicine.

Stem cells have the ability to renew themselves, and mature into specialized cells like heart or brain cells. This allows them to multiply and repair damage.

If stem cell genes are edited to fix defects causing diseases like anemia or immune deficiency, healthy cells can theoretically be reintroduced into a patient, thereby eliminating or preventing a disease. If these stem cells are taken or made from the patient themselves, they are a perfect genetic match for that individual, which means their body will not reject the tissue transplant.

Because of this potential, I was excited that my PhD project at the University of British Columbia gave me the opportunity to work with stem cells.

However, stem cell hype has led some to pay thousands of dollars on advertised stem cell treatments that promise to cure ailments from arthritis to Parkinsons disease. These treatments often dont help and may harm patients.

Despite the potential for stem cells to improve medicine, there are many challenges as they move from lab to clinic. In general, stem cell treatment requires we have a good understanding of stem cell types and how they mature. We also need stem cell culturing methods that will reliably produce large quantities of pure cells. And we need to figure out the correct cell dose and deliver it to the right part of the body.

Embryonic, 'induced and pluripotent

Stem cells come in multiple types. Embryonic stem cells come from embryos which makes them controversial to obtain.

A newly discovered stem cell type is the induced pluripotent stem cell. These cells are created by collecting adult cells, such as skin cells, and reprogramming them by inserting control genes which activate or induce a state similar to embryonic stem cells. This embryo-like state of having the versatile potential to turn into any adult cell type, is called being pluripotent.

However, induced pluripotent and embryonic stem cells can form tumours. Induced pluripotent stem cells carry a particularly high risk of harmful mutation and cancer because of their genetic instability and changes introduced during reprogramming.

Genetic damage could be avoided by using younger tissues such as umbilical cord blood, avoiding tissues that might contain pre-existing mutations (like sun-damaged skin cells), and using better methods for reprogramming.

Stem cells used to test drugs

For now, safety concerns mean pluripotent cells have barely made it to the clinic, but they have been used to test drugs.

For drug research, it is valuable yet often difficult to get research samples with specific disease-causing mutations; for example, brain cells from people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Researchers can, however, take a skin cell sample from a patient, create an induced pluripotent stem-cell line with their mutation and then make neurons out of those stem cells. This provides a renewable source of cells affected by the disease.

This approach could also be used for personalized medicine, testing how a particular patient will respond to different drugs for conditions like heart disease.

Vision loss from fat stem cells

Stem cells can also be found in adults. While embryonic stem cells can turn into any cell in the body, aside from rare newly discovered exceptions, adult stem cells mostly turn into a subset of mature adult cells.

For example, hematopoietic stem cells in blood and bone marrow can turn into any blood cell and are widely used in treating certain cancers and blood disorders.

A major challenge with adult stem cells is getting the right kind of stem cell in useful quantities. This is particularly difficult with eye and nerve cells. Most research is done with accessible stem cell types, like stem cells from fat.

Fat stem cells are also used in stem cell clinics without proper oversight or safety testing. Three patients experienced severe vision loss after having these cells injected into their eyes. There is little evidence that fat stem cells can turn into retinal cells.

Clinical complications

Currently, stem cell based treatments are still mostly experimental, and while some results are encouraging, several clinical trials have failed.

In the brain, despite progress in developing treatment for genetic disorders and spinal cord injury, treatments for stroke have been unsuccessful. Results might depend on method of stem cell delivery, timing of treatment and age and health of the patient. Frustratingly, older and sicker tissues may be more resistant to treatment.

For eye conditions, a treatment using adult stem cells to treat corneal injuries has recently been approved. A treatment for macular degeneration using cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells is in progress, though it had to be redesigned due to concerns about cancer-causing mutations.

A path of cautious optimism

While scientists have good reason to be interested in stem cells, miracle cures are not right around the corner. There are many questions about how to implement treatments to provide benefit safely.

In some cases, advertised stem cell treatments may not actually use stem cells. Recent research suggests mesenchymal stem cells, which are commonly isolated from fat, are really a mixture of cells. These cells have regenerative properties, but may or may not include actual stem cells. Calling something a stem cell treatment is great marketing, but without regulation patients dont know what theyre getting.

Members of the public (and grad students) are advised to moderate their excitement in favour of cautious optimism.

Katharine Sedivy-Haley, PhD Candidate in Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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BEYOND LOCAL: Expert recommends 'path of cautious optimism' about the future of stem cell treatment - CollingwoodToday

The only country that has stood out in creating companies to offer stem-cell therapies has been Japan, while the other countries across the globe have been struggling to achieve the same. It has been five years since Japan has been legally allowed to extract stem cells from different skin biopsies, using them in the injections for chronic and complex diseases such as heart diseases. More than 3,700 treatments have received green light as a result of the regulatory laws being passed. However, a majority of the treatments and therapies have not passed the randomised, controlled, double blind clinical trial a global standard to prove its safety and effectiveness. Not having passed the trial proves its unreliability on the outcome of the treatment altogether.

Although, in fast need of getting therapies and products commercialised, many entrepreneurs and scientists across the world are looking to enter Japan for a more rapid route of getting their business started. Therefore, looking at the rush that various companies are in, in order to commercialise their products, the government is looking to introduce a stringent policy framework for better regulatory changes. This also forces other countries to keep an eye on the regulations to ensure ethical work is being conducted.

The law requires high quality processed stem-cells in certified cell-processing centres and treatments that need to be passed through an independent ethical-review board. While the double-blind clinical trials are expensive in Japan, as claimed by Japans Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, there are many ethical issues that are involved by giving placebos to people who are suffering from illnesses. This is the reason behind the need for stringent ethical laws that do not hamper the lives of people in any way and risking their health.

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Threatening regulatory policies for the birth giver of stem-cell technology - Medical Herald

Stem cell treatments are all the rage. Since theyre mostly illegal in the US, patients have been going to other countries for treatment (stem cell tourism). The claims are grandiose, but the evidence to support those claims is thin gruel.

What are stem cells?

Embryonic stem cells are the cells in the early embryo that develop into all the different types of cells needed to make a baby. The idea was Hey, lets harness that. If stem cells can grow a whole baby, we ought to be able to use them to fix anything that goes wrong. They could replace cells or entire organs anywhere in the body that have been harmed by disease or injury. Simple idea, but not so easy to implement. For stem cells to be useful, we would have to figure out how to get them to where they are needed, control their differentiation to produce the type of cells we want, and make sure they didnt go elsewhere and create problems or develop into malignant tumors.

Research on embryonic stem cells was hampered by public objections and government restrictions. But that didnt matter so much, because researchers soon learned that they could harvest stem cells from adults. Adult stem cells are found throughout the body. They have a repair function in the organs where they are found. To some extent, they can be artificially induced to behave more like embryonic stem cells, with the potential to develop into types of cells other than just the cells of the organ where they were found.

There are various types of adult stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have properties that make them particularly popular for therapy. They are derived from placenta, umbilical cord, fat cells, or muscle cells. They can differentiate into various cell types but not into blood cells.

In preliminary clinical studies, stem cells have shown promise for a number of conditions, from knee osteoarthritis to heart failure. But the quantity, quality, and consistency of the evidence is low. There are safety concerns. MSCs have caused malignant tumors in mice. The cells are manipulated in the lab with products that could cause immune reactions or transmit zoonoses. They potentially could create mesenchymal tissues at sites where they are not wanted.

FDA warnings

There have been reports of serious adverse effects from stem cell treatments, including blindness, paralysis, and tumors.[i]The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only a limited number of stem cell-based products[ii]for certain indications including certain blood cancers and some inherited metabolic and immune system disorders.

The FDA is concerned that vulnerable patients are getting stem cell treatments that are illegal and potentially harmful. They have issued consumer warnings:[iii]

If you are considering stem cell treatment in the U.S., ask your physician if the necessary FDA approval has been obtained or if you will be part of an FDA-regulated clinical study. This also applies if the stem cells are your own. Even if the cells are yours, there are safety risks, including risks introduced when the cells are manipulated after removalThere is a potential safety risk when you put cells in an area where they are not performing the same biological function as they were when in their original location in the body Cells in a different environment may multiply, form tumors, or may leave the site you put them in and migrate somewhere else.

And they warn that if youre considering treatment in another country you should:

Joe Rogans interview of Dr. Neil Riordan and Mel Gibson

On The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan interviewed Mel Gibson and Dr. Neil Riordan.[iv]

Riordan operates a stem cell clinic in Panama. Mel Gibson raved about how Riordan had healed him and his father, and Rogan gave his own testimonial about how stem cell injections had cured his shoulder pain. Riordan claimed that he has gotten miraculous results for a variety of diseases in patients the medical establishment had given up on.

Riordan is not a medical doctor: he trained as a PA (physician assistant) and has a PhD. He has supported some questionable treatments like IV vitamin C for cancer. He ran a stem cell clinic in Costa Rica that was shut down by the government because his treatments were not supported by evidence. So he moved to Panama, where government regulation is more permissive.

He claims to have a revolutionary method of using stem cells. Umbilical cord MSCs are isolated, then grown and manipulated in his lab. He selects the ones most likely to work by analyzing them for 1200 different molecules that they express, and he rejects 90% of umbilical cords. He has identified golden cells that always seem to work. He says his cells are a high-quality product grown in the laboratory and certified to be safe and free of infectious diseases. He claims that his stem cells will not differentiate into other types of cells; I question that. MSCs clearly candifferentiate: thats what defines them as stem cells.

The book

He told Rogan amazing stories (a hopeless quadriplegic restored to full function!) and said the details and the evidence are in his book, Stem Cell Therapy, A Rising Tide: How Stem Cells are Disrupting Medicine and Transforming Lives.[v]I read his book. It is essentially a litany of anecdotes. It is impressive and tugs at the heartstrings: he reports amazing cures of patients with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis (MS), heart failure, the frailty of aging, respiratory disorders, arthritis, orthopedic conditions, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, lupus, and even autism! But the plural of anecdote is not data. Good scientists know ten anecdotes are no better than one and a thousand are no better than ten. To find out if a treatment works, no number of anecdotes can ever constitute proof. It is essential to test the treatment in properly designed randomized controlled clinical trials.

Riordans miracle stories are marred by inconsistency. Patients were treated with a variety of methods, often more than one at a time. He provides copious references, but they are mostly about other kinds of stem cells therapies, preclinical animal studies, basic science, and speculative opinions. He doesnt actually have any controlled studies to support the specific kind of stem cell therapy he is providing (at up to $38,000 a pop!).

He thinks a dysfunction or lack of MSCs is the root cause of most diseases including cancer, which he says is a last-ditch effort to heal a non-healing wound. I dont think so!

There is a very telling statement in Arnold Caplans Introduction to the book. He says,

This book is not what I pleaded with Neil to writeI have, for many years, begged him to give us outcome reports of his many patients: what they have as clinical problems, what they walk in with, and the longitudinal outcomes after the cell infusions.

Controlled clinical studies are very expensive, but Riordan could easily have published case series of patients with a given disease treated with a well-defined treatment protocol, providing all the details of successes and failures, to allow for peer review. He could have published his procedures for selecting his golden cells, which would have allowed other researchers to try to replicate and validate his results.

Is this really stem cell treatment?

Technically, stem cell therapy may be a misnomer. It doesnt depend on MSCs differentiating into mature tissue cells. It depends on the cells producing useful secretions.

it has been clearly demonstrated that MSCs home to sites of inflammation or tissue injury and secrete considerable levels of both immunomodulatory and trophic agents. This indicates that their therapeutic capacities are not associated with the ability of MSCs to differentiate into different end-stage mesenchymal cell types and thus the term stem is not essential to describe these cells. [vi]

Perhaps MSC should stand for medicinal signaling cells. In Riordans book he claims to have isolated the signaling secretions and put them in what he calls Magic Juice. He says it works even better than using the cells. If his Magic Juice is anywhere near as effective as he claims, pharmaceutical companies should be clamoring to develop it into a patentable drug.

He hasnt published much. PubMed lists his articles; they are mainly about orthomolecular medicine and about subjects only peripherally related to his MSC treatments. Only one article[vii]addresses the treatment he is currently using. It is a feasibility study of MS with 20 subjects and no control group.

Bottom line

As the International Society for Stem Cell Research says, Stem cell therapy for a majority of conditions is still at a preclinical phase, yet many clinics worldwide routinely and illegally provide untested and dangerous stem cell therapy to desperate and vulnerable patients, for large sums of money.[viii]

Even well-proven stem cell therapies can lead to tumor formation, tissue rejection, autoimmunity, permanent disability, and death.[ix]Unproven and unregulated therapies could be even more risky. Buyer beware!

If Riordans method works, it is unethical of him not to publish and share his data with the world. If it doesnt work, he is fleecing vulnerable patients. If it can be proven to work, Ill be delighted. Id love to get some of that Magic Juice! But Ill wait until it has been tested.

[i]https://www.healthline.com/health-news/stem-cell-treatments-offer-hope-also-severe-risks#6

[ii]https://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/cellulargenetherapyproducts/approvedproducts/default.htm

[iii]https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm286155.htm#Advice

[iv]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmd7-KjE62o

[v]https://www.amazon.com/Stem-Cell-Therapy-Disrupting-Transforming-ebook/dp/B071GRNQPX

[vi]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3788322/

[vii]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5845260/

[viii]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4872563/

[ix]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3185342/

This article was originally published as a SkepDoc column in Skeptic magazine.

Dr. Hall is a contributing editor to both Skeptic magazine and the Skeptical Inquirer. She is a weekly contributor to the Science-Based Medicine blog and is one of its editors. She has also contributed to Quackwatch and to a number of other respected journals and publications. She is the author of Women Arent Supposed to Fly: The Memoirs of a Female Flight Surgeon and co-author of the textbook, Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions.

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Beware Stem Cell Clinics that Offer Untested Treatments ...

By: Ian Murnaghan BSc (hons), MSc - Updated: 25 Sep 2019| *Discuss

With all the controversy surrounding stem cells you may have missed hearing about many of the benefits for the health and medical fields. You may not even be aware that stem cells already have many applications for treating disease. Their potential to treat even more diseases in the future means that scientists are working hard to learn about how stem cells function and how they can treat some of the more serious diseases affecting the world.

The potential to reverse diseases is also not a foreign one.

Heart Attack - For example, a patient who has suffered from a heart attack and sustained heart damage could have the damaged tissue replaced by healthy new muscle cells.

Parkinson's Disease - The destruction of brain cells in conditions such as Parkinson's disease can hopefully be reversed with the replacement of new, healthy and functioning brain cells.

Genetic Defects - Even more promising is the potential to address genetic defects that are present from birth by restoring function and health with the introduction of normal healthy cells that do not have these defects.

Scientists aim to locate and remove specific stem cells from a tissue and then trigger them to differentiate outside of the body before transplanting them back into the patient to replace damaged tissues. In burn victims, a very small piece of the skin can be progressively grown, allowing doctors to cover a burn that is often much larger than the original size of the skin piece.

The current benefits of stem cell usage are already well documented and it is expected that continued research will pave the way for new treatments. For those suffering from serious diseases, stem cells offer hope for effective treatment or perhaps even a reversal of the disease. Time will confirm the full success of stem cell therapies and continued research should teach us more about using stem cells to treat debilitating medical conditions.

Check out the features on stem cell therapy on this site for more information.

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Benefits of Stem Cells

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The Stem Cells Transplant Institute is a Government Regulated Facility

Costa Rica implemented legislation that legalized stem cell therapy but requires adherence to strict regulations. The Stem Cells Transplant Institute has met all of the formal regulations ensuring strict quality control, safety and excellent patient care.

Due to provision in legislation passed in 2014, the Costa Rican Secretary of Health considered stem cell therapy/regenerative medicine illegal. The bill failed to include any direction around stem cell therapy using adult stem cells but new legislation passed in 2016, Regulation No. 39986 provided authorization and guidance for regenerative therapy using adult stem cells.

Any party that would like to perform stem cell therapy must submit an application to the local Health Controller. The clinic must meet the following formal requirements:

(i) Evidence that the therapy has completed preclinical studies that, as in the case of medications, demonstrate that they are effective and safe for use in clinical practice;

(ii) The complete characterization of the cell types that will be transplanted and their characteristics, cellular processing and production;

(iii) The description of the cells and how they will be administered, including assistive drugs, agents, and surgical procedures;

(iv) A clinical follow-up plan and data records to ensure that the cellular therapy is effective and has no adverse effects; and

(v) Credentials substantiating training in stem cell therapy for the staff who will carry out the procedure.

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About Costa Rica Stem Cells Transplant Institute Clinic ...