Column: A stem cell clinic touts its links with leading scientists. Some say they have no such connections

A stem cell clinic touts its links with leading scientists. Some say they have no such connections. firm that pitches stem cell treatments to desperate patients willing to travel to Mexico to receive them, likes to portray itself as a cut above the rest. The so-called Stem Cell Therapy and Research boasts that its medical advisory board comprises “luminaries from Harvard, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), University of California Irvine (UCI)” and other leading institutions. It says on its website that its founder, Anand , is “credited with setting up the stem cell research labs at top research institutions in [the] US including Salk Research Institute, Sanford-Burnham Institute, UCI, UCSD.”

A stem cell clinic touts its links with leading scientists. Some say they have no such connections

There is no scientific evidence for the efficacy of stem-cell treatments for diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or the other neurological conditions stem cell says it can treat. The only stem cell-related treatment approved by the FDA is the use of umbilical cord blood for some blood diseases.