It was a matter of Dr. Oz, A.J. Foyt and a company called Cell Surgical Network Corp. of Rancho Mirage, Ca., which UC Davis stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler says is the largest affiliated group of stem cell clinics in the United States.
But first Oz and Foyt. They were the subject of an item on the The Stem Cellar, the blog of California's $3 billion stem cell agency,
Kevin McCormack, communications director for the Oakland-based agency, wrote the piece, which was headlined "TV's Dr. Oz takes on clinics offering dubious stem cell treatments."
Foyt has said he has signed up for stem cell treatment in Mexico for issues stemming from his many injuries sustained in his very successful career in auto racing. Oz this week ran an investigative piece dealing with some of the 570 clinics in this country that offer unproven treatments.
The Oz show said that complications and death have resulted in some cases from treatments at these clinics here and abroad.
McCormack's concluding sentence:
"Perhaps someone should tell A.J. Foyt."Michael Hiltzik, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist with the Los Angeles Times, also had an article concerning the Oz show, which reported that the treatments being offered at many of the 570 medical clinics defy "basic medical know-how."
Hiltzik also wrote that the Oz provided a "a withering assessment of doctors who claim to be engaged in clinical trials of stem cell treatments but 'ask you to give money upfront and mortgage your house and borrow from your friends’ credit cards — that’s not how medicine should be practiced.'"
Davis' Knoepfler dealt with the Cell Surgical Network and discussed its possible use of "laboratory-proliferated stem cells" in patients, which Knoepfler indicated would require federal approval.
The matter was addressed in an email Q-and-A with the leaders of the corporation, Mark Berman and Elliott Lander.
Berman and Landers' final point:
"All we care about is our patients. Providing them with the best and safest regenerative medical care in the world is what Americans deserve. We are not interested in anyone who desires to slow or obstruct this patient care by manipulating regulators into criminalizing certain medical practices. Therefore, we continue on our mission and ignore the fake news and rumors that generate blog ratings and spread fear and mistrust."
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