Healthy Life Extension

Tomorrow’s Stem Cell Treatments Available Now?

posted on April 27, 2010

SingularityHub.com recently wrote about the future of stem cell technology which is happening in, of all places… the US of A!

Yes, in spite of the politically negative stem cell environment the first decade of this century, a small Colorado clinic has managed to cleverly subvert the system, bring relief to hundreds, and set the stage for life-extending therapeutic stem cell treatments.

The FDA has yet to approve stem cell therapies for general use in medicine, but that hasn’t stopped the doctors from providing them anyway.

Chris Centeno and John Schultz have boldly formed Regenerative Sciences Inc. in Broomfield, Colorado. RSI provides its patients with the Regenexx procedure, an adult stem cell transplant that uses your own cells (autologous) to treat joint injuries and bone damage. There’s no surgery needed. A needle extracts bone marrow, RSI isolates the stem cells and cultures them in your own blood, and then these cells are injected into the area where they are needed.

They’ve treated 348+ patients with 800+ injections and show no signs of slowing down. According to RSI’s own surveys, 89% of their knee patients showed marked improvement, as did 75% of their hip patients!

Within months some patients can walk or run in ways they haven’t been able to in years. We’ve seen these kinds of results from stem cell treatments before, but only in horses and dogs. They claim Regenexx is solely used as a part of their medical practice, only within the state of Colorado, and as such is no more regulated by the FDA than it would be by the FAA or the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Stem cells have been a focal point for hype and hope for years now. They have promising effects on diabetes, corneal blindness, even HIV. It’s pretty clear that they’re also the future of organ transplants.

The FDA, which regulates all interstate drug sales and related clinical trials is not trying to keep Americans from these “miraculous” cures, it’s simply trying to make sure they are safe first. Apparently, that’s taking too long. Medical tourism agencies are starting to cater to those seeking stem cell treatments across the borders. Whether or not they are ready for widespread medical use, stem cell therapies are in high demand, not just in the US but around the world. It’s no longer a question of when we will have access to these treatments, it’s a question of how.

Overall, RSI is claiming around 80% patient satisfaction according to its own surveys. That’s incredible, especially when you see some of their patients walking and running again on joints that have experienced years of chronic damage. It also seems Centeno and Schultz have the documented evidence to back up the claims for Regenexx’s success.                                                           

Last year, I reported amazing results achieved on animals by a California company called VetStem. In fact, I observed the procedure on two horses. VetStem’s procedure has been performed on thousands of horses and dogs. It appaears that the Regenexx’s is much more sophisticated.

But what about the FDA? They have been trying to control stem cell treatments for some time. Usually, when they wrest control over anything, progress slows to a crawl.

Let’s hope the medical profession can police itself well enough and convincingingly enough to keep onerous government regulators at bay. That would give the industry freedom to innovate and flourish as much and as quickly as the computer industry has seen since its inception.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      .
Long Life,
David Kekich
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