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Ann McFarlane is losing faith. In the first half of 2012, the Houston resident received four infusions of adult stem cells grown from her own fat. McFarlane has multiple sclerosis (MS), and had heard that others with the inflammatory disease had experienced improvements in mobility and balance after treatment. The infusions — which have cost her about US$32,000 so far — didn't help, but she knew that there were no guarantees.
It is McFarlane's experience with Celltex Therapeutics, the company that administered the cells, that bothers her. She was told that she had been enrolled in a study to test the cells' efficacy, but received almost no information about it. And although it wasn't exactly a secret that the treatment had not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Celltex, based in Houston, Texas, assured its clients that it was within its rights to provide it. But Celltex was forced to halt treatments in October, and in November a legal battle broke out over who owned the cells still being stored by the company. For weeks, McFarlane...
It is McFarlane's experience with Celltex Therapeutics, the company that administered the cells, that bothers her. She was told that she had been enrolled in a study to test the cells' efficacy, but received almost no information about it. And although it wasn't exactly a secret that the treatment had not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Celltex, based in Houston, Texas, assured its clients that it was within its rights to provide it. But Celltex was forced to halt treatments in October, and in November a legal battle broke out over who owned the cells still being stored by the company. For weeks, McFarlane...