EXPERIMENTAL THERAPIES
Experimental therapies : As their name indicate, these innovative and potentially promising therapies have no scientific character. Contrary to state of the art 'clinical trial', their results are mostly not followed -up and/or communicated in a structured, scientific and transparent manner. Therefore this attempt to collect 'some' information and know a bit more.
Here are a few reports written further to my personal contacts with companies/doctors proposing those treatments and with patients. My ambition would be to cover all main experimental procedure, in order to facilitate my own and other patients' decision-making, positive or negative. Your help is needed to extend this database. Should you have undergone an experimental therapy yourself of should you wish to 'monitor' one given experimental therapy, please let me know [email corinne4cure@gmail.com].
CAUTION : The information displayed below is NOT a recommendation to go for such therapy. It is meant to let those in despair know that a lot of things are happening in the field of experimental therapies and to help them determine risks and benefits. We have never been so close to a cure, nevertheless, for the time being, none of those have been proven effective and some of them can be dangerous because of their experimental status !!
1. Cells4Health.- Adult bone marrow stem-cells
Remark : Many more patients underwent the C4H's therapy than shown in this report. The representative character of this overview cannot be proven. Nevertheless, my personal conclusion is that , although a few patients have had some improvement, the overall results seem to be far from the expectations for many patients and that those willing to get the procedure should beware that it also includes serious risks, such as loss of functions !
It's a rather negative picture, especially for us, SCI patients, mainly aimed at warning against the risks of experimental treatments. I hope future programs will also show the real progress reached so far and the need for serious clinical trials in a pro-active way [for positive vibes, see Dr Wise Young 'reasons for hope'. See section on Research and Clinical trials]
- Interview to Cells4health' CEO
Remark : beware that the data contained in this report is exclusively based on Cells4Health input and should be brought into perspective, for example through considering the actual results [see above report !] !
Interview June-Aug 2005 - report
2. ACT- Cord blood stem cells -
- Short description : Intravenous and/or subcutaneous injection of purified and potentiated cord blood stem cells. The company is headquartered in Switzerland, but the procedure is possible in various countries. More info on www.stem-cells.com
- Report about some patients who underwent the ACT procedure - update August 2005
Remark : Many more patients have undergone the procedure in the meantime, thus there is no evidence that the enclosed overview be representative or not. An update of the results was repeatedly asked to ACT, without any success so far, which to me, is no good sign !
OCTOBER 3RD, 2006 : The treatment offered by dr Trossel in Rotterdam/PMC, reportedly using the ACT stemcells HAS TO STOP. Dr Trossel was requested to STOP immediately with the treatment. More detail in carecure post
Update November 2006: An authorization will be necessary , as of 2007, to transplant stem cells in the NL. Only academic medical centers and the Dutch cancer institute will be able to get such an authorization, to apply stem-cell therapies, in the context of an experiment. They have to comply to the requirements of the law about scientific and medical experiments on people.Source: http://www.minvws.nl/nieuwsberichten...splantatie.asp
3. Dr Huang - China- fetal OEG cells.
Sorry, the 4 links below do not work anymore, need to be updated!
Here is an interesting scientific report about Dr Huang's experimental OEG transplantation therapies. Possibly too negative ? I am ready to post some more positive comments about this therapies when solid arguments can be provided. I know that a few people have said they had some results. The question is to know how many they are compared to the hundreds of people who underwent the surgery and how important the progress really was ! Here and Here and Here are the publication by Dr Huang's team themselves, which should be read along with the above scientific report by Dobkin_et_al.
4. Dr Bruchowiecki/ NEUROVITA- Moscou- Adult OEG cells ++
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showthread.php?t=71866 : this is a long post from a patient of Dr B/ Neurovita- Russia. Is that right ?I don't know. if you think it is not, please let me know. I would be more than happy to post a group of positive testimonies when solid arguments can be provided.
5. Many other stem-cell therapies in the world.
Here is a Overview of experimental therapies Oct2006-. See carecure or alarme for more details and patients testimonies concerning experimental therapies !
Here is also an interesting and quite thorough article listing many experimental stem-cell therapies, published by ScienceMag: Selling the stemcell dream_sciencemag july06
Are any of them working ? well, so far, the more I am trying and getting to know, and the less convinced I get. I would not advise anybody to go for any of those so called 'experimental treatments'. Before enrolling into any of those, please do not forget to also have a look at the overview of clinical trials in the section "research and clinical trial" of this blog. Clinical trial are supposed to have a more scientific character and might offer more transparency, although, there are some risks also there, especially when those clinical trials are started by companies whose revenues are at stake !6. Combined therapies, stem-cells + alternative therapies ?
See this article by Laurance Johnston, November 2006 showing the potential connection between stem-cells and alternative therapies [acuponcture, laser,...]