Experts call for tighter regulations on stem-cell tourism and advertising

Stem cell tourism is booming but experts say that tighter regulations are needed in order to protect patients from possible negative outcomes and dangerous medical procedures. 

Experts are calling on states to unite and put in place new safety regulation when it comes to stem cells treatments. Doctors are most concerned about the advertising of unproven therapies and patients that are willing to pay and travel long distances in order to have the medical procedure done.

A group of leading international experts have published a paper in the Science Translational Medicine voicing their concerns about the medical centres that advertise, often enough, directly to patients, stem cell treatments without any proof of effectiveness. According to them, hundreds of medical centres around the world are offering therapies that involve transplantation of so-called stem cells claiming to have the ability to repair damaged tissues. Sometimes, these therapies are said to help even patients with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers say the practice risks undermining the development of rigorously tested, validated therapies and puts lives at risk. The experts call for tighter regulation when it comes to this type of advertising so that the medical claims do not go unchecked and patients are correctly informed about the potential benefits and the side effects of such treatments.

The group, which includes experts from the University of Edinburgh, also calls for the World Health Organization to help guide the responsible clinical use of cells and tissues, as it does for medicines and medicinal devices.

And many patients, looking for a cure for their illness, are willing to travel to different countries, in order to get unapproved procedures.

“Many patients feel that potential cures are being held back by red tape and lengthy approval processes”, says Dr. Sarah Chan, a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.”Although this can be frustrating, these procedures are there to protect patients from undergoing needless treatments that could put their lives at risk. Stem cell therapies hold a lot of promise but we need rigorous clinical trials and regulatory processes to determine whether a proposed treatment is safe, effective and better than existing treatments.”

Some treatments have been approved since their effects have been confirmed by rigorous clinical trials. This is the case for some types of stem cell transplantation, mainly blood and skin stem cells, that help cancer patients and burn victims. But unapproved medical procedure can lead to death as it did in Germany, in 2010, when two children died as a result of a legal loophole to offer untested treatments. The clinic has since been closed, bu this case prompted the experts to call for new regulations.