MS Society Calls For Law Change On Unproven Stem Cell Trials

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 05 Dec 2008 - 1:00 PST

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Following yesterday's published guidelines on unproven stem cell treatments by the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), the MS Society is calling on the Government to change the law on advertising medicines.

The MS Society supports the advice from the ISSCR that patients and their families should approach stem cell therapy with caution.

The Society has this week warned people with MS of a 'stem cell trial' being marketed from the Seychelles and Dubai, due to a lack of current evidence to support a stem cell treatment for MS.

It is understood that a company called Integrated BioSciences (IBS), registered in the Turks & Caicos Islands and with offices in the Seychelles, the Persian Gulf and Oxford (UK), is approaching people with MS and is seeking payments in exchange for injections of stem cells.

Dr Jayne Spink, MS Society director of policy and research, said: "There's no current evidence at all for a stem cell treatment for MS, yet this company is approaching people with MS asking them to pay up to take part in what they are describing as a trial that has no US or EU approval.

"This kind of internet marketing plays on raising false hopes among people with a devastating, incurable condition and current legislation is not geared up to put a stop to it. Anyone who is thinking about taking this up should look very closely at what's on offer and think again."

To read the Society's full statement, visit http://www.mssociety.org.uk/news.

- The MS Society is the UK's largest charity dedicated to supporting everyone whose life is touched by MS, providing respite care, an award-winning freephone helpline (0808 800 8000), specialist MS nurses and funds more than 50 vital MS research projects in the UK.

- Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults and an estimated 85,000 people in the UK have MS.

- MS is the result of damage to myelin - the protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system - which interferes with messages between the brain and the body. For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while for others it has a progressive pattern.

MS Society