If you google stem cell therapies, regenerative medicine or platelet-rich plasma you will see a lot of categorical statements that the science is not yet developed enough and anybody who gets better is probably just feeling a placebo effect. 60 Minutes did an expose on stem cell fraud. I watched the show and agree with their conclusion that the clinic investigated in southern California is a fraud. What I don't agree with is all of the university-based PhD scientists they interviewed who said no one should be getting regenerative medicine treatments outside of an official clinical trial.
The truth is, surgeons and pain doctors have been practicing regenerative medicine for almost 15 years in a safe and effective manner, using both platelet-rich plasma and stem cells. So long as it is done within the FDA's guidelines, the treatment has generally been safe and effective. As you are probably aware, the FDA has a reputation for being very conservative in its approval process for new drugs. There has been no exception for stem cells. If a treatment or stem cell product does not strictly conform to FDA rules, it is labelled a drug and must undergo extensive (and expensive) research, just like any other drug. However, the FDA explicitly recognized the promise of stem cells to provide breakthrough treatments of many diseases and went out of its way not to stifle treatments provided by legitimate providers.
I understand where the scientists are coming from, having once been one of them. Their research is vital to the field of regenerative medicine and the clinical trials should continue. However, even the FDA has recognized that many patients are already seeing remarkable results with stem cell therapies. Furthermore, the data on stem cell treatments is already better than the data for many conventional treatments that doctors have been providing for years. In fact, many of the very scientists who say doctors should not be treating with stem cells yet come from universities with large and well-advertised regenerative medicine practices. Check out this blog from Mayo Clinic to see an exciting case of a paralyzed spinal cord injury patient who was able to walk after an injection of stem cells in his back, https://regenerativemedicineblog.mayoclinic.org/2019/11/27/mayo-clinic-research-is-a-step-toward-hope-for-spinal-cord-injuries/
As usual, the true answer lies somewhere in the middle of the extreme opinions you will see on the internet. I am excited about how regenerative medicine is enhancing the lives of my patients and even more excited about the near future in this field. We may not be able to make your back or knee as good as new right now, but I am confident that in many cases we can give you better pain relief and better functionality than conventional treatments offer. With stem cells we can often slow down or arrest the degenerative process until we learn how to cure it in the near future. So why wait to begin living your life again?
Speak life,
Amy Pearson, MD
