What procedures are in place to ensure the quality and safety of stem cell treatments? How can patients guard against deceptive promotional practices for treatments that have no basis in science? What new procedures are needed to support patients and the development of new treatments?
These questions and others were discussed this past Wednesday by the Medical Board of California’s Stem Cell and Regenerative Therapy Task Force. The task force held an interested parties meeting to receive information and input on options to promote consumer protection.
CIRM, the Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network, and the Department of Public Health gave formal presentations to the task force.
Dr. Maria Millan started by providing the task force with an overview of the field in general and the 56 CIRM funded Clinical Trials to illustrate the enormous promise of the field. She then contrasted this promise against numerous reports of patients being harmed by unproven and unregulated stem cell treatments provided by practitioners operating outside their field of training. Dr. Millan emphasized the critical importance of having systems in place to provide assurance to patients that treatments are appropriate for their particular disease. She elaborated on CIRM’s core mantra that stem cell treatments be regulated, reputable and reliable. We discussed the three Rs in this posting. The fundamental aim is to put the patient interests at the center of a system that meets all regulatory and professional standards of care.
Dr. Mehrdad Abedi, Director of the UC Davis Alpha Stem Cell Clinic provided concrete examples of how they are implementing the 3Rs in their operations. Dr. Abedi emphasized the importance of best practices for manufacturing and processing stem cell products and for clinical care. He cited the operations at the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures and the various oversight committees tasked with protecting the rights and interests of patients. Collectively, this approach, embraced by all the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinics, serves to ensure all clinical trials regulated, reputable and reliable.
Dr. Charity Dean of the Department of Public Health described the role of the Food and Drug Branch in licensing facilities involved in the preparation, processing and labeling of drugs. This authority extends to facilities outside of California that ship products into the state. Dr. Dean illustrated how the Department of Public Health’s Food and Drug Branch licenses manufactures, and this licensing system is designed to protect patients using such products.
After discussion and public comment, the task force co-chair, Dr. Krauss suggested the Medical Board would consider options for patient protection, include:
- Guidance and education materials for medical practitioners
- Sample informed consent documents designed to inform patients about the potential risks and benefits of stem cell treatments
- Public education materials
- An adverse event reporting system
The Stem Cellar 
There are a lot of false claims being made by “pop up” stem cell clinics across the United States especially here in California where over 1/3rd of the people giving these treatments are not physicians. Often these businesses hire inexperienced nurses to do complicated, precision joint, tendon and ligament injections that only a trained physician using ultrasound guidance should be doing. Thanks for leading the force to make these amazing therapeutic therapies safe for patients with appropriate oversight and regulation.