Clinics Peddle Unproven Stem Cell Remedy for Lengthy COVID

Oct. 26, 2023 – Corporations advertising and marketing costly and unproven stem cell therapies are concentrating on sufferers with lengthy COVID – an usually debilitating situation that up to now has no confirmed therapies, based on a report revealed right this moment.

Researchers identified 38 direct-to-consumer companies promoting purported stem cell therapies to stop and deal with the virus – 36 of which additionally declare to deal with post-COVID syndrome. 

“There’s an necessary alternative right here for regulators to know there are nonetheless fairly plenty of companies making problematic promoting claims,” stated Leigh Turner, PhD, the primary writer of a research on the difficulty and a bioethics professor on the College of California, Irvine Division of Well being, Society, and Habits. “I do not suppose that is going to go away anytime quickly. It must be a excessive precedence.”

Stem cells, typically known as the physique’s “grasp cells,” can generate new cell sorts – one thing no different cell within the physique can do. And whereas they’ve the potential to restore and regenerate cells, these therapies haven’t been accredited by regulatory our bodies and aren’t backed by convincing security and efficacy information. 

The FDA issued a warning in 2019 towards stem cell therapies to deal with COVID-19.

Of the 60 clinics operated by these companies, 24 are primarily based within the U.S. and 22 are in Mexico, with different clinics within the Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.

“It was fascinating to me the extent to which these had been companies working within the U.S., not in far-flung locations,” Turner stated.

In accordance with the report, clinics cost anyplace from $2,950 to $25,000 for stem cell merchandise.

Many individuals with long COVID cope with signs comparable to mind fog, excessive fatigue, and extreme complications that linger for months and even years. One in 10 people with the virus will get post-COVID syndrome. The severity of the signs, and the dearth of therapies, make sufferers notably weak to false claims, stated Kristin Englund, MD, an infectious illness specialist who runs the Cleveland Clinic’s reCOVer clinic for lengthy COVID sufferers.

Englund stated a number of sufferers have requested about stem cell therapies, and she or he warns them that there could possibly be potential unwanted effects with out a lot, if any, profit. Corporations usually attempt to declare a medical profit with out scientific proof and with out being acknowledged by a regulatory company, she stated.

“While you work with this inhabitants, you see how determined they’ll get to return to the lives they lived pre-COVID,” she stated. “A number of the sufferers we’re seeing, they have been occurring 3 years with these signs. At the moment, there isn’t a single prognosis, no single therapy, and that’s tremendously irritating for sufferers.”

Julia Moore Vogel, PhD, a computational biologist and researcher at Scripps Analysis, has seen this downside by way of each a affected person and scientist lens. Earlier than catching the virus in July 2020, the 38-year-old was a long-distance runner. Now, after coping with lengthy COVID for 3 years, she counts her steps so she does not get too drained.

And whereas she has tried potential low-risk therapies like dietary supplements – which did not work for her – she wouldn’t use stem cell therapies, given the dearth of strong analysis. 

“I after all keep in mind, in class, stem cell therapies being one thing that was very a lot an space of curiosity,” she stated. “I’d simply actually need to see the information earlier than I might really feel assured about attempting it.”

Although the Nationwide Institutes of Well being has launched a number of clinical trials focused on treating long COVID, and the FDA has approved a number of stem cell scientific trials for lengthy COVID, there’s nonetheless a lot to study post-viral syndromes generally, stated Michael R. Jordan, MD, an infectious illness physician at Tufts College in Medford, MA.

“There are a selection of observational cohort research and scientific trials in progress to evaluate numerous therapies for lengthy COVID,” he stated. “However what’s necessary is there isn’t a confirmed therapy at this level, and suggestions are for sufferers to work with licensed certified and skilled well being care suppliers for symptom administration.”