[exsmoker]

In case you missed a previous post I made, here is a list of patents held by 5 of the 6 last ISSCR presidents, including the present one. Also, Paul Knoepfler, who is quoted in the article and writes a blog himself, makes his money through a competitive technology IPSC (induced pluri-potent stem cells).



-2008 President-George Daley-Children’s Hospital-

Creating Embryonic Stem Cells for Mass production-PCT/US2007/019935

Method for Enhancing Proliferation of Stem Cells-PCT/US03/29185

Proprietary Kit to see if an iPS Cell is Correctly Manufactured-PCT/US09/57849

Method to Create iPSC’s (artificial stem cells)-PCT/US08/12532


-2010 President-Irving L. Weissman-Stanford University

Method for Isolating a Stem cell Type-Issued Patent-US7592174

Regenerating a Liver with a certain Stem Cell Type-US 2001/0049139 A1

Method for Culturing Embryonic Stem Cells-US 2006/0172414 A1

A Method for Concentrating Stem Cells of the same Type-Patent Number US 5087570

A Device for Isolating Stem Cells-US 2004/0038316 A1

Methods to Isolate and Culture Certain Blood Stem Cells-US 2009/0191164 A1


-2011 President-Elaine Fuchs-Rockefeller University

A Method for Changing Skin Stem Cells-US 2012/0034616 A1

A Method for Isolating a new Stem Cell Type-US Patent 7829336

A Method for Modulating Hair Growth-US 2009/0203574 A1

A Method for Isolating Hair Stem Cells-US 2008/0213882 A1


-2012 President-Fred Gage-Salk Institute for Biological Studies

A Method and Device for Extracting Stem Cells-US 2007/0190649 A1

A Method to turn Stem Cells into Nerves-US 2010/0166710 A1

A Stem Cell Therapy to treat Brain Diseases-US Patent number: 6451306

A Method for Culturing Stem Cells from Deceased Patients-US 2002/0098584 A1

A Method to use a Centrifuge to Isolate Nerve Stem Cells-US Patent number: 6767738

A Method to use IGF-1 to turns Stem cells into Certain Nerve Cells-US 2005/0148069 A1

A Patent on using a Molecular Switch to turn Stem Cells to nerve Cells-US 2006/0234378 A1


-2013 President-Shinya Yamanaka- Center for IPS Cell Research & Application

A Method for Producing Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-US 2011/0250692 A1

Another Method for Producing Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-US 2009/0227032 A1

A Method for Improving the Efficiency of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-US 2011/0039338 A1

Reprogramming Factors to create iPS Cells-US Patent number: 8058065

Yet Another Method for Producing Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-US 2011/0003365 A1

A Method to create Nerve Cells from Stem Cells-US 2011/0183350 A1

A Method of treating Nerve Problems with Stem cells-US 2009/0208465 A1

Another Method for reprogramming Cells to Stem cells-US 2010/0279404 A1

A Method to create Platelets from iPS Cells-US 2011/0053267 A1

A Method to find Substances that will Reprogram Cells to iPS Cells-US 2008/0274914 A1

A Gene only expressed in Embryonic Stem Cells-US 2008/0299548 A1

[ClaudeMarkus]

Here we go again getting told what's good for us like we are all too stupid to make health care decisions with our own doctors. Why isn't the conflict of interest ever exposed? It appears the media is being misled, is simply uninformed on the issues or is in the bag for those that represent Big Pharma, research institutes or the FDA. Please feel free to leave your own comments. You have to register, but it only takes a few moments.


http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle...2&c=y#continue

Clinic taps patients' own stem cells to ease their pain
Article by: MAURA LERNER , Star Tribune Updated: August 12, 2012

A Sartell doctor offers the treatment instead of surgery, but critics say it's too soon. The trend has triggered a simmering debate in medicine and at least one federal court over who should decide when a treatment that basically uses a patient's own cells is ready for prime time.


Dr. Joel Baumgartner readily admits that it may be years before any insurance company pays for this treatment.

And that's a point of pride for the family physician in Sartell, Minn. "I would say yes, I'm a pioneer," he said.

Baumgartner, 39, is one of a small but growing number of doctors who are offering stem cell therapy for common medical conditions -- even though experts say such treatments have yet to be proven safe and effective.

On the website of his clinic, Rejuv Medical, Baumgartner advertises stem cell therapy as an alternative to surgery for knee pain, back pain and other orthopedic problems, inviting patients to "Unleash the power of your own stem cells!"

In other parts of the country, some clinics are offering stem cells as "anti-aging" therapies, or for serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, said Leigh Turner, a medical ethicist at the University of Minnesota who is tracking the trend.

"They're on the Internet making a whole series of claims," Turner said. "It looks to me like there's been a rush out of the laboratory into the clinic, and it's happened earlier than it should have."

The problem, says Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher at the University of California, Davis, is that "the science is just not there."

The trend has triggered a simmering debate in the medical field and at least one federal court case over who should decide when a treatment that basically uses a patient's own cells is ready for prime time.

In medicine, almost everyone agrees that stem cells are one of the most exciting areas of research. The cells are the chameleons of the body, with the ability to turn into various types of human tissue. An international race is on to find ways to harness those cells to cure disease and heal injuries.

"We're working on it," said Dr. Rafael Sierra, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at the Mayo Clinic's Center for Regenerative Medicine. But in general, he said, it's "certainly not ready to be done on patients yet." There are too many unanswered questions, he said, including how to make sure stem cells do what they're supposed to do, without causing harm.

But Baumgartner and other doctors say the evidence is encouraging enough already to offer the treatment as an option to patients, much like other elective procedures.

"Health care is becoming what's best for the patient, not what insurance covers," Baumgartner said. "If they decide this is something they want, why should this be something they can't have?"

'I wanted to be the guinea pig'

Baumgartner started offering the stem cell therapy in May, using a method developed by a Colorado clinic and its company, Regenerative Sciences. The company has been locked in a four-year court battle with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which won an injunction in July to stop Regenerative from selling an unapproved drug made with stem cells. The company has vowed to appeal.

The legal battle, however, did not apply to the treatments at Baumgartner's clinic, which offers "same-day" procedures that, he and others say, aren't regulated by the FDA.

Baumgartner spent several weeks training in Colorado to learn the technique. So far, he said, he's given the treatment to "seven or eight" patients, including a clinic employee. The charge per patient: about $4,000 for the stem cells alone, he said.

Ernie Rodriguez of Baraboo, Wis., knew the treatment was experimental. But, he said, "I wanted to be the guinea pig." At 59, he said, he had been living with "bone-on-bone" pain for more than four years and had been told he'd need a partial knee replacement.

After reading about the stem cell treatment online, he made an appointment at Baumgartner's clinic in early June.

The treatment typically spans three days, according to Baumgartner. First day: blood draws and preliminary injections. Second day: They take bone marrow from the hip, put it in a centrifuge to separate the stem cells and inject those cells into the damaged joint. Third day: More injections, including a natural solution that acts like a fertilizer, Baumgartner says. Afterwards, the patient wears a brace for weeks or months to help with the healing.

Two months after his procedure, Rodriguez said, "I can get up and it doesn't hurt. I can jump up and it doesn't hurt." The price? "About $7,000," he said. "But I tell you what, I would do it again."

'A lot of case studies'

Baumgartner says he's careful not to overpromise the benefits of stem cells, and his website includes the caution that the "clinical effectiveness has not yet been established."

Still, he says, "I'd say there's a lot of proof." Not traditional clinical trials, he said, but "a lot of case studies" by Regenerative Sciences, the company that developed the treatment.

The stem cell therapy has been performed on about 1,500 patients so far, according to Dr. Chris Centeno, founder of Regenerative Sciences. Seven clinics (including Baumgartner's) have been trained to provide it across the country.

Centeno and his colleagues have published a number of studies showing that the treatment shows promise, including one report on 135 knee patients, in which about 60 percent reported improvement. Some of the published studies, however, are on only one patient or just a handful. In 2011, a study of six patients concluded simply that "the results ... support the hypothesis" that stem cells "may be an alternative" to surgery.

Many stem cell researchers say that while the treatment is promising, the evidence is thin.

"That's I think one of the big criticisms," said Knoepfler, of the University of California, Davis. "There's just none of that robust clinical trial data." He notes that such studies are difficult and expensive, but without them, the proof is missing.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research has warned that it's "very concerned that stem cell therapies are being sold around the world." In its "Patient Handbook on Stem Cell Therapies," it cautions that the treatments "are nearly all new and experimental" and may not work.

To Knoepfler, who does research on stem cells and cancer, there's an even bigger concern: safety. "If you take aspirin and you have a bad reaction, you just stop taking it and it goes away," he said. "But stem cells are alive." Once injected, he said, they can grow or drift to other parts of the body. "It's a little scary."

Centeno, meanwhile, has published several follow-up studies showing no increase in cancer among his stem cell patients.

Still, a number of orthopedic surgeons predict it will be years before stem cell therapy becomes routine.

"I think we live in an impatient society where people want answers sooner than that," said Dr. Allan Mishra, of Menlo Park, Calif., a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. That's one reason, he said, that famous athletes such as Kobe Bryant have turned to alternative treatments, sometimes overseas.

"I do think [stem cells] will provide some of those answers." Mishra said. "We are not there just yet."

Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384

Comments so far:

jeffport
Aug. 12, 12
5:24 AM
Of course the "clinical effectiveness" isn't done, they won 't let people try it!!! Somebody needs to get out there and start trying new ways but yes they need to be controlled and watched. The FDA is not the be all end all for advancements. They are just a group that sits in an office. I honestly think too that there are folks/groups that do not want people to have this chance. Can you imagine just how much money the drug companies, joint replacement companies would be out if all that were needed was stem cell therapy. This story has renewed my thinking in looking into places that offer stem cell therapy, I've had MS for 17 years now, I'd like to be cured.....


45
reid
Aug. 12, 12
6:54 AM
The risk of infection in situations with already established procedures is still too high, and to risk injecting into a joint such as a knee and ending up with a septic joint is very scary indeed. I hope the lab equipment and the people operating it are a bit more sterile than the setup pictured in this story. And the real red flag is the inclusion of the word 'natural' into the description of one of the injections should be a warning that marketing rather than science is driving a lot of this. Poison ivy is 'natural' but something that is to be avoided. When someone starts pontificating about 'natural', it should be a very strong warning about their philosophy and take on how they explain what is in their treatment. Sounds good, sounds safe, but it is frequently there to assuage any fears the consumer might have. I am surprised they didn't use the word 'green', too. If large stem cell research areas such as Mayo and the U of Wisconsin who have been leaders, along with many other science backed centers aren't jumping on the bandwagon, it should give a patient real cause for concern. As for testimonials? In science they mean zippo, nothing, nada. Maybe the mentioned patient from Baraboo jot a good jolt of cortisone injected as one of the preparatory shots, which will give the same result (for awhile) but does the real pain relief while the gamisch or soup of whatever got injected otherwise did nothing but got the credit. Finally, the current technique for harvesting stem cells usually is from the peripheral blood, sort of like giving blood at the Red Cross, not bone marrow aspirates (very painful in comparison) and an ordeal that legitimate centers rarely put patients through. I'd be very very cautious, and hope that the infection rate and long term failure rate isn't something to be the price to pay for being a guinea pig.


52
isbjornmydog
Aug. 12, 12
8:03 AM
The whole thing looks and sounds sketchy! Why is the personal trainer pictured in the lab? This reminds me of the whole Realians claim to cloning a few years back.


42
johnthomasmd
Aug. 12, 12
9:01 AM
This whole story is a bit bizarre. You have many advertisements on this page for a host of things without evidence (Cenergenics age management through hormones), special shoe inserts claiming to cure osteoarthritis in the knees-yet these guys get lambasted because they have actually done some research that shows that this likely works and it's safe(how much research is there for the magic shoe inserts being advertised on this very page?). The story quotes a host of university guys saying we're not there yet, but interestingly none of these ortho guys have any publications in stem cells. The only person quoted in the story who does have any experience in stem cells is a basic science researcher working with dangerous IP stem cells that are heavily genetically modified (read a competing technology), what do you think will happen to his paycheck if these doctors are right? I for one applaud these doctors for thinking outside the box. As a family physician, I've seen far too many patients maimed or worse by traditional joint replacement. I know now where I'll be sending my patients with chronic arthritis...


32
scpioneers
Aug. 12, 12
12:26 PM
Why does the media not give background information on "experts" that are quoted and the ISSCR? There are conflicts of interest that need to be reported. This is all about the money - BIG MONEY. Patients getting treated with their own stem cells is not profitable to anyone but doctors who administer the treatment. As a patient with a terminal disease & co-founder of the Stem Cell Pioneers forum, I believe I can speak for myself and most other forum members, that we believe that the FDA's regulation of our own stem cells as drugs is nothing short of a death sentence and a violation of our civil rights. We are also tired of the research community,Big Pharma and the FDA protecting their own interests and the media for failing to really dig deep and understand the conflicts that abound. Space does not permit me to print a list of patents held by current and past presidents of ISSCR, but the list is a long one. This fight is far from over. Patients are tired of being used. Many, like myself, have tried all means of conventional medicine. There are no clinical trials and yet we are told to wait decades for our own "safety". WE DON'T HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME. There are safeguards for patients just in the fact that physicians must be licensed and carry malpractice insurance. Stem cell therapy should be a decision a patient makes with his doctor, not with an uncaring scientist or government agency. I am truly disappointed to see yet another story that does not bring to light the conflicts that I mentioned.


12
Maynard_242
Aug. 12, 12
1:06 PM
scpioneers, I appreciate the passion and personal connection to this issue. However to accuse scientists of being uncaring and self interested is unfounded and unfair. Dr. Baumgartner can just as easily be accused of using patients by charging for a treatment that he cannot provide solid data to prove is effective.


11
scpioneers
Aug. 12, 12
1:48 PM
Maynard_242 My point is to let patients decide when it comes to using their own stem cells. Solid data? How many decades are you talking about before that is available? Patients, especially those who are terminal, should be given the choice. I don't see the same concern for my own money if I were to take risks in the stock market, buy a car that devalued the moment I drove it off the lot, etc., so please do not bring the affordability issue into the discussion. If patients are well informed of the risks and costs, which I agree is necessary through informed consent, then they should not be treated as idiots who cannot manage their own health care and financial decisions. If any data is needed, it is how many patients are dying that could have been saved had they been able to access stem cell treatment.