Be very wary of this sort of service.   I traveled to China about a few
years ago and the medical industry appears to be full of charlatans.  For
instance,  doctors often sell medicine directly to patients, with no printed
pricing (read: whatever they can get).    The stores are full of counterfeit
merchandise, which is easily identifiable by the packaging.

There are good doctors and China has a long tradition of herbal medicine,
but expensive stem cell injections are not part of this tradition.

-Archie

On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 7:08 PM, rayilynlee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Neurology Now:Volume 4(3)May/June 2008p 10
> THIS WAY IN: To China for Stem Cells
> [DEPARTMENTS: THE WAITING]
> Schuster, Larry
> If you have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease),
> and you've been in a wheelchair for a year or more, this ad from a company
> in China for a stem cell therapy (SCT) bolstered by a bone marrow transplant
> (BMT) is aimed at you:
> 7 SCTs and 1 BMT at a total cost of $33,800.00 USD.
> The ad, however, fails to note that no rigorous study has ever been
> conducted on the therapies to determine if they have any benefit on the
> course of the disease in ALS, in spinal cord injuries, or in any of a large
> number of neurological illnesses and conditions for which the company offers
> the treatments, which feature cord-blood derived stem cells.
> Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D., scientific director and vice president of the ALS
> Association, says there's certainly been no evidence that bone marrow
> transplants have any value in treating ALS patients. She calls
> commercialization of these various unproven cell transplant therapies
> unethical.
> Sean Hu, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Beike, himself notes the
> limitations of the therapy in ALS patients.
> Before the treatment they could reach their hand only to the chest. After
> treatment they can comb their hair and wash their face, Dr. Hu says. But the
> improvements don't last long. That's the problem. Still, he says, many
> patients return to repeat the therapy.
> Some independent research suggests the immediate improvements sometimes
> seen after such treatments may be due to a powerful placebo effect,
> triggered in part by intensive community fundraising efforts and support.
> Dr. Hu disagrees, saying he believes that growth factors released during
> Beike's therapy are responsible.
> Several American researchers have tried to find whether the cell treatments
> offered by commercial clinics in China have any effect. So far, there's been
> no clear evidence of benefit. Dr. Hu says that they hope to have trial data
> soon. As we wait for our international trials to start, we believe we should
> conduct controlled studies here in China. This is what led us to do the
> optic nerve hypoplasia study, which we have worked on with physicians from
> the U.S. to make sure that it was designed in a way that will gain
> acceptance from the international scientific community.
> Yet, after hearing about the billions of dollars allocated for stem cell
> research in California and elsewhere and reading the hopeful promotions by
> the stem cell clinics and companies, many patients refuse to wait for
> evidence of benefit.
> I need those stem cells, patients sometimes tell Bruce H. Dobkin, M.D., of
> the Reed Neurologic Research Center at the University of California-Los
> Angeles, and editor in chief of the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural
> Repair. Usually, he can discourage the patient from going to the stem cell
> clinics after talking about what is known about the therapy and the risks,
> Dr. Dobkin says. No one has reported a clinically important and lasting gain
> of function in patients.
> Rayilyn Brown
> Director AZNPF
> Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation
> [log in to unmask]
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