Many more patients are estimated to receive stem cell treatments in private clinics than in clinical trials.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 08, 2017

In a new early view article published in the online Journal of Stem Cell Research and Medicine, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D., founder and director of Asymmetrex, LLC, asks the question, Why are patients scared away from private stem cell clinics? (May 6, 2017). Sherley presents a critical assessment of the warnings pronounced by federal agencies and professional organizations, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), against private clinics providing stem cell treatments. He argues that new treatments in private clinics are, for the most part, not very different than stem cell treatments in clinical trials authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In his comment, Sherley chides the NIH, ISSCR, and alarmist commentators for portraying private stem cell clinics, as a group, as unethical, and even dangerous to patients, without good evidence to support their claims. He provides examples to show that many operational elements of stem cell treatments in private clinics are not unlike FDA-authorized clinical trials. Both stem cell treatment settings have strengths and weaknesses. Sherleys position is that, In their missions to serve patients, the NIHs and ISSCRs efforts would seem to be better spent informing patients how to obtain the best care in either setting. In earlier writings and presentations, he has also urged decision-makers to develop policies for collecting, organizing, and studying stem cell treatment data from private clinics. Since the number of patients treated in private clinics is now estimated to far exceed the number in clinical trials, Sherley has argued that excluding this valuable experience by vilifying it is a tragic loss to stem cell medical research and patients.

A crucial way in which FDA-authorized clinical trials and private stem cell treatment clinics are not different is their past lack of a means to determine the dose and quality of stem cell treatments. In his published comment, Sherley notes that none of the anti-private clinic alarmists acknowledges this deficiency that also impacts the worth of stem cell clinical trials. In fact, this need even limits the quality of some approved stem cell therapies like umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant.

Asymmetrex has recently developed a technological solution for the half century-old problem of specifically counting tissue stem cells. With the companys new technology, it is now possible to determine the dose and quality of therapeutic tissue stem cell preparations. Asymmetrex is positioned to become the certifying agency for the dose and quality of tissue stem cells used in approved treatments and either FDA-authorized clinical trials or private stem cell clinic treatments. Sherley predicts that adoption of this shared certification process will promote a more reasoned assessment of the contributions that private stem cell clinics are and can make to accelerating progress in stem cell medicine.

About Asymmetrex

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. Asymmetrexs founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The companys patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems production and quantification that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Currently, Asymmetrexs focus is employing its technological advantages to develop and market facile methods for monitoring adult stem cell number and function in stem cell transplantation treatments and in pre-clinical assays for drug safety.

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