Patients Blinded by Stem Cell Therapy: FDA (and consumers) win a legal victory!
The Food and Drug Administration just won a court case supporting the agency's ability to regulate stem cell clinics that rely on client-derived adipose tissues. This is a win for consumer protection, though too late to help those already harmed.
Patients blinded by stem cell therapy: an update
An update on the tragic results of unproven stem cell treatments to treat macular degeneration.
Macular Degeneration, Genes, and Grandma’s Vitamins: To test or not to test?
Is genetic testing necessary to optimize treatment for patients with a potentially blinding eye disease? The stakes are high and the answer depends on which of the two feuding, financially-conflicted groups you believe. In the end, the best evidence wins!
Patients blinded by stem cell therapy: more egregious than you imagined
Three patients were treated with a slurry of stem cells and blood products, in both eyes, on the same day. Could the outcome, three patients becoming legally blind, have been foreseen? Probably.
Stem Cell Tourism for Eye Disease: No Passport Required
Stem cell clinics outside the United States, and outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. regulations, have flourished and the pursuit of treatment at these centers has been called “stem cell tourism.” Seekers of unproven stem cell therapies no longer need to look outside the U.S. Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher and leading advocate for the responsible use of stem cell technology,...
You be the judge
Jann Bellamy recently recapped her experience attending a meeting sponsored by her local Healing Arts Alliance. As you re-read her article pay particular attention to the language used by the Alliance to describe themselves and the treatments they offer. For me, there is one word that really stands out. It is emblematic of the attitude of the complementary and alternative medicine community....
Anti-VEGF treatment of Macular Degeneration: Science-Based Success
Let's celebrate some good science with a story about some evidence-based treatments for macular degeneration!
Andrew Weil Flirts with Evidence Based Medicine
Andrew Weil, MD, pops up quite frequently on SBM, most recently in this entry by Harriet Hall, so I will not spend much space introducing him. An excellent biography and critique of Dr. Weil was written by Arnold Relman, former Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. It is over a decade old, but contemporary to some of the events described...
Anecdotes: Cheaper by the Dozen
A loan officer sets up a meeting with an aspiring entrepreneur to inform him that his application has been denied. “Mr Smith, we have reviewed your application and found a fatal flaw in your business plan. You say that you will be selling your donuts for 60 cents apiece. “Yes” says Mr. Smith, “that is significantly less than any other baker in...
The Plausibility Problem
From the very outset, the founders of Science Based Medicine have have emphasized the importance of plausibility in the critical evaluation of scientific claims in medicine. What exactly does “plausibility” mean, and how should we apply it in science? My simple definition of plausibility would be “the likelihood that a premise is true.” The application in science is a little more complicated....