Oct. 26, 2023 – Companies marketing expensive and unproven stem cell therapies are targeting patients with long COVID – an often debilitating condition that to date has no proven treatments, according to a report published today.
Researchers identified 38 direct-to-consumer businesses selling purported stem cell therapies to prevent and treat the virus – 36 of which also claim to treat post-COVID syndrome.
“There's an important opportunity here for regulators to understand there are still quite a number of businesses making problematic advertising claims,” said Leigh Turner, PhD, the first author of a study on the issue and a bioethics professor at the University of California, Irvine Department of Health, Society, and Behavior. “I don't think this is going to go away anytime soon. It needs to be a high priority.”
Stem cells, sometimes called the body’s “master cells,” can generate new cell types – something no other cell in the body can do. And while they have the potential to repair and regenerate cells, these therapies have not been approved by regulatory bodies and are not backed by convincing safety and efficacy data.
The FDA issued a warning in 2019 against stem cell therapies to treat COVID-19.
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