THIS BLOG IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO CAST Coronavirus particles, illustration. When the COVID pandemic broke out researchers all over the world scrambled to find new approaches to tackling the virus. Some of these, such as the vaccines, proved remarkably effective. Others, such as the anti-parasite medication ivermectin or the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, were … Continue reading Beware of misleading headlines and claims
Leigh Turner
Clinical trials: separating the wheat from the chaff
What do you do when the supposed solution to a problem actually turns out to be a part of the problem? That’s the situation facing people who want to direct patients to scientifically sound clinical trials. Turns out the site many were going to may be directing patients to therapies that are not only not … Continue reading Clinical trials: separating the wheat from the chaff
Media shine a spotlight on dodgy stem cell clinics
A doctor collects fat from a patient's back as part of an experimental stem cell procedure in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Dec. 5, 2014. (Raquel Maria Dillon / Associated Press) For several years now, we have been trying to raise awareness about the risks posed by clinics offering unproven or unapproved stem cell therapies. At … Continue reading Media shine a spotlight on dodgy stem cell clinics
‘Pay-to-Participate’ stem cell clinical studies, the ugly stepchild of ClinicalTrials.gov
When patients are looking for clinical trials testing new drugs or treatments for their disease, one of the main websites they visit is ClinicalTrials.gov. It’s a registry provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of approximately 250,000 clinical trials spanning over 200 countries around the world. If you visit the website, you’ll find CIRM’s … Continue reading ‘Pay-to-Participate’ stem cell clinical studies, the ugly stepchild of ClinicalTrials.gov
A call to put the ‘public’ back in publication, and make stem cell research findings available to everyone
Thomas Gray probably wasn’t thinking about stem cell research when, in 1750 in his poem “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”, he wrote: “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen”. But a new study says that’s precisely what seems to happen to the findings of many stem cell clinical trials. They take place, but … Continue reading A call to put the ‘public’ back in publication, and make stem cell research findings available to everyone
The Stem Cellar 