AsianScientist (Aug. 11, 2016) – According to the world’s largest-ever study of stem cell clinics, advanced economy nations led by Ireland, Singapore, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States have the highest per capita number of clinics engaging in direct-to-consumer marketing of stem cell therapies.
Published in Cell Stem Cell, the new study reveals murky marketing practices and dubious claims from 417 unique websites advertising stem cell-based therapies.
“In the early days of this under-regulated industry, clinics were typically located in developing economies, where weak laws or lax enforcement enabled these businesses to operate with relative impunity,” said senior author Professor John Rasko from the University of Sydney.
Previously it was thought that stem cell tourism offered online was predominately being promoted from countries in Southeast Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe. More recently, Rasko said, richer countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States have seen clinics take advantage of real or imagined gaps in regulation.
The study reveals that a great majority of the websites (83 percent) offered adult stem cells, followed by stem cells of unspecified type (13 percent). The remainder offered embryonic, induced pluripotent, or fetal stem cells (8 percent) or amniotic stem cells (1 percent). About half the sites (52 percent) did not indicate the donor source of cells.
Websites were also frequently imprecise about the medical conditions for which they offered interventions, and used inconsistent terminology or categories of diseases across sites. Notably, websites most commonly targeted anti-aging/skincare stem cell applications (47 percent), indicating that marketers are offering interventions for lifestyle or aesthetic, rather than strictly medical, concerns.
Such claims, the paper noted, are typically made without supporting evidence from randomized, controlled independent clinical trials and lack market authorization from a regulatory authority.
The highest number of clinics undertaking direct-to-consumer marketing was overwhelmingly found in the USA (187 clinics), followed by India (35), Mexico (28), China (23), Australia (19), and the UK (16).
But taking into account the population (per 10 million citizens), Australia (8.1) was only behind Ireland (11.2) and Singapore (10.0) among advanced economies.
The article can be found at: Berger et al. (2016) Global Distribution of Businesses Marketing Stem Cell-Based Interventions.
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Source: University of Sydney; Photo: Shutterstock.
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