Stem Cell Therapy: How Safe & Effective is It?

Are stem cell therapies safe? Are they effective? Both are excellent questions we get asked on a regular basis from our Cincinnati patients at our health and wellness clinic.

And while stem cells are a fairly recent and developing science, we have found great results in applying stem cell injections for knees, back pain, muscle injuries, and urinary stress incontinence. We’ve found them to be helpful in strengthening the pelvic floor and in treating joint and muscle pain.

The procedures are rigorously tested and follow strict regulatory procedures.

Regulatory Efforts in Stem Cell Science

As this blog from the research firm Advarra explains, regulatory efforts to guide stem cell therapies include:

• “The Federation of State Medical Boards created a Workgroup to Study Regenerative and Stem Cell Therapy Practices which resulted in the adoption and publication of a policy on Regenerative and Stem Cell Therapy Practices in April 2018.
• “The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSR), in existence since 2002, published a series of articles and guides to advise clinicians, researchers and IRBs on the conduct of clinical trials to assure the ethical and scientifically responsible use of these products.
• “State governments have also stepped in to protect the public from what was seen to represent unproven, risky and costly treatments. To date, laws have been enacted in California, Washington, Florida, Texas, and others that impose controls over the use of these products.”

The FDA’s Role in Stem Cell Guidelines

The FDA does its regulatory efforts as well, but the sheer size of the stem cell industry makes this challenging. Therefore, the agency focuses on higher risk procedures.

As the FDA explains in its 2017 guidance document regarding stem cell therapies:

“The FDA intends to focus enforcement actions on products with higher risk, including based on the route and site of administration. For example, actions related to products with routes of administration associated with a higher risk (e.g., those administered by intravenous injection or infusion, aerosol inhalation, intraocular injection, or injection or infusion into the central nervous system) will be prioritized over those associated with a lower risk (e.g., those administered by intradermal, subcutaneous, or intra-articular injection).”

At our Cincinnati health and wellness center, all of our stem cell therapies follow the highest regulatory procedures. We use umbilical and placenta products, derived from healthy birth by c-section infants whose mother has agreed to donate the tissue.

If you feel you may benefit from stem cell therapy, contact our office in Cincinnati or New York. Dr. Blatman has successfully used stem cell injections to treat knee problems, back pain, and other joint and muscle pains. We practice regenerative medicine to provide relief without the need for invasive surgery or potentially addictive pain medications.