New Data on Amniotic and Cord Stem Cell Products: This Is a Scam
If you’ve been told that you’re being treated with millions of live stem cells from various birth tissues, like amniotic fluid or cord blood, you’re being scammed. How do I know this? Read on…
The Young Stem Cells Sales Pitch
It’s hard to find specific stem cell therapy reviews on many of the clinics out there promising to inject you with millions of young stem cells. However, the best reviews we have are those that look at the basic concept behind what’s going on. Meaning, if the product being offered is being fraudulently described, that’s all you need to know.
The clinics making this claim of young and plentiful stem cells usually have this sales pitch:
1. Your stem cells are too old to be any good.
2. We have vials that we buy in bulk that come from birth waste.
3. These vials contain millions of live and young stem cells that are very powerful.
However, what if this wasn’t true? Would you believe anything else this clinic told you?
My History in This Space
I was the first physician on earth to treat common orthopedic problems with stem cells. Because of that huge head start, our team developed a research lab facility at our Colorado HQ that is still unique in private medical practices. Back in 2014, we were approached by a sales rep who promised he could sell us millions of live stem cells in a vial. We were intrigued, so we tested the product and, in fact, found that it was all dead. We then began testing many other products and again found that they were all dead, meaning no living stem cells. In addition, these vials had low growth factor levels. Growth factors are like espresso shots for repair cells in the body, getting them to work harder and faster. However, what was in these vials wasn’t a strong espresso, but instead more like watered-down gas station coffee. This is our data:
In Vitro Evaluation of Injectable, Placental Tissue-Derived Products for Interventional Orthopedics
The Blowback from Raining on the Young Stem Cell Money Parade
The companies selling these birth tissues can make about a million bucks a delivery by selling the various parts of the birth waste, including amniotic fluid, amniotic and other membranes, umbilical cord blood, Wharton’s jelly, and more. In addition, these went from niche products rarely used in surgery with low sales to blockbuster products merely by claiming that they had stem cells. Gullible doctors, chiropractors, naturopaths, and others believed this sales song and dance.
When we released our research findings, we rained on this massive money parade. The companies making this stuff and their sales reps banking huge commissions were upset and did everything they could to try to undermine the integrity of the lab data we produced. That worked pretty well, as sales were still exploding; however, that may have changed this week. Why? Science is catching up to the scammers in that a university lab began speaking about their findings, which, sure enough, confirm ours.
The New Research
The new data on birth tissue products comes from Dr. Lisa Fortier of Cornell. She’s a big name in the orthopedic regenerative medicine space and was interviewed on a podcast for a sports medicine journal. I took a snippet of the small section of the podcast where she is asked to comment on amniotic products and have placed it in the one-minute video above. The bottom line? Her lab tested 11 amnio products and found no living stem cells, confirming our findings. In addition, the growth factor analysis they performed also confirmed our findings that these products have poor levels of these important natural healing compounds. The good news? They did find some proteins that could help tissue healing, but what that data means among the myriad of proteins in this stuff is unknown.
Dr. Fortier’s original first abstract is below (sent to me by a colleague):
Maybe Cord Blood Is Different?
Nope, we have tested cord blood as well, and it’s also full of dead stem cells. Given that it’s processed in the same labs and in the same way as the amniotic products, we would expect it to be dead tissue. In addition, the FDA and CDC released information yesterday on the Liveyon cord blood product that was recalled for bacterial contamination. Given that this stuff was being injected IV, these patients became very, very sick. Meaning, what unethical providers are doing with this stuff is placing patients at risk.
The upshot? I certainly feel vindicated that other labs are confirming our data collected back in 2014 and 2015. Bottom line? If someone offers you a live stem cell product from amnion or cord blood, it’s a scam. So please don’t fall for this ruse!
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NOTE: This blog post provides general information to help the reader better understand regenerative medicine, musculoskeletal health, and related subjects. All content provided in this blog, website, or any linked materials, including text, graphics, images, patient profiles, outcomes, and information, are not intended and should not be considered or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please always consult with a professional and certified healthcare provider to discuss if a treatment is right for you.
