Scientists Try to Protect Patients from Untested Treatments
The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is establishing new guidelines for medical treatments involving human stem cells. The group is taking the action in response to the increasing number of overseas clinics offering unproven stem cell therapies to patients with cancer, diabetes and other serious health conditions.
More than two dozen stem cell experts, government officials, and private investors met in California on March 19th, 2008, to discuss the proposed guidelines and the quickening pace of stem cell research around the world.
One of the society’s primary concerns is that desperate patients and their families are traveling to China, Costa Rica and other distant countries to receive expensive treatments which have not been clinically tested to ensure they’re safe or effective. As the ISSCR president said,
“If you go online, you can find dozens of sites that offer unproved therapies.”
In addition to possibly harming vulnerable patients, the group expressed worries that doctors who turn to untested treatments could end up hurting the field of legitimate stem cell research.
Olle Lindvall, MD, PhD, from Lund University in Sweden, is chairing the task force drafting the guidelines. The group expects to have the draft completed by the end of this year.
If you’re a patient in the US looking for a healthcare provider offering clinically tested cancer treatments, you can use the oncologist database offered by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Related Links: SanMateoDailyNews.com; Cancer Research UK; stemcellresearch.org
Related Podcast: Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine from the National Academies Press
Technorati Tags: alternative medicine; bioethics; Lund Stem Cell Center; Half Moon Bay, CA; medical tourism; patient outsourcing
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