News, info and tips for living with multiple sclerosis

Stem Cell Transplants Versus DMTs – A trial seeks participants

Stem cell therapy

People with multiple sclerosis have been waiting for this: A full-scale clinical trial testing the effectiveness of stem cell transplans as an MS treatment. The trial is being conducted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and it’s enrolling people with MS at several centers in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. The U.S. has been behind the curve when it comes to approving stem cell transplants for…Continue Reading

Doors Shut on Stem Cell Program That Treated Semla Blair

Stem cell therapy

Richard Burt, MD, the chief of Northwestern Medicine’s immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases division, is taking a sabbatical, and the stem cell program he has headed for many years is shutting down. The clinic treated several people with MS, including actress Selma Blair. A group of 110 MS patients were involved in Burt’s phase 3 clinical trial of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), running from Sept. 20, 2005 to July 7,…Continue Reading

FTC Targets California Stem Cell Clinics

“Deceptive” and “false” are two words used by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to describe marketing claims by two stem cell treatment clinics in California. According to an FTC complaint, the clinics had been advertising that they were using amniotic stem cell therapy to successfully treat serious diseases, including multiple sclerosis, autism, stroke, and heart attacks. The claims included one advertisement saying their treatment restored sight for a 101-year-old woman who had been…Continue Reading