California performing cell transplants

[mikek]

Sorry, this is the best I can do at the moment : www.medra.com/ at the moment. Moderator ,please do a direct link to the websites.

I came upon this website while researching some stocks at www.wallstreetreporter.com and it also had some interesting stem cell articles. To be advertised here ,they must have some ethics.

Wise, isn't FDA approval needed for such a therapy?? I sent an email to the director Dr. Rader with questions ( education via Wise for 5 years ) and my own personal history and condition.

MIke

[Wise Young]

Sorry, this is the best I can do at the moment : www.medra.com/ at the moment. Moderator ,please do a direct link to the websites.

I came upon this website while researching some stocks at www.wallstreetreporter.com and it also had some interesting stem cell articles. To be advertised here ,they must have some ethics.

Wise, isn't FDA approval needed for such a therapy?? I sent an email to the director Dr. Rader with questions ( education via Wise for 5 years ) and my own personal history and condition.

MIke

Medra has been around for a while. Particularly questionable or controversial cell sources (such as fetal) are usually done overseas or in Caribbean clinics (Domican Republic). There are many web sites that are quite critical of Medra and consider their approach to be a scamorous:
http://blog.bioethics.net/2005/07/cl...ls-update.html
http://www.quackwatch.org/06Research.../stemcell.html

and even our own site:
http://carecure.org/forum/showthread...ighlight=medra
http://carecure.org/forum/showthread...ighlight=medra
http://carecure.org/forum/showthread...ighlight=medra
http://carecure.org/forum/showthread...ighlight=medra
http://carecure.org/forum/showthread...ighlight=medra

Wise.

[Steven Edwards]

Mike, from an earlier post about Medra.

I just got a call from Debra Evans from Medra asking whether or not I had received the info and if I had any questions. I asked if they had further info on the use of their cells to treat SCI beyond the syringomyelia/Gainesville abstract and she dodged the question by saying that they have already treated a number of people with spinal cord injury.

The cells they use are not cultured in anything before transplantation. They come from "therapeutic" or elective abortions [where the fetus is between 5-11 weeks old], and they would just administer the fetal hematopoietic stem cells [from "what would at that point be the fetus's liver"] via IV and the fetal neuronal cells subcutaneously into the lymph nodes.

I told her that I would like to learn some more about those cell types to help me in my decision. She said if I had any questions I could call Dr. Rader and speak directly with him. When she mentioned the fetal cells, I specifically asked if they were cultured with certain growth factors, to which she replied "fetal cells release their own growth factors." She wasn't overtly pushy or anything [at least not yet], so that's a positive... I guess? Her voice sounded like she was very detached from the whole conversation, which was very brief.

If you can add anything further from your correspondence with them, please do. It didn't sound too good to me. Syringomyelia is far from traumatic spinal cord injury.

[mikek]

Thanks Wise and Steven !! I sent them a very detailed email of inquiry 3 days ago and have no response. Wise, if they can legally do this intravenously, why can't Shwann cells be administered to a demylinated spinal cord in the way Dr.Huang does with key hole surgery or something simpler???

Mike

[mikek]

Wise before you reply, I think the office in California refers you to Ecudaor where by the way DR. Kao did his surgeries. They are also not embryonic cells but from a 12 day old fetuses from the Ukraine lol.........they also have no dna so there is no chance of rejection ?? I'm writing the advertiser.

Mike

[Wise Young]

Thanks Wise and Steven !! I sent them a very detailed email of inquiry 3 days ago and have no response. Wise, if they can legally do this intravenously, why can't Shwann cells be administered to a demylinated spinal cord in the way Dr.Huang does with key hole surgery or something simpler???

Mike

Mikek,

In my opinion, companies like Medra are taking advantage of people. I thought that IRM in Barbados was similar but met their CEO recently and was at least partly reassured that IRM is interested in having a legitimate clinical trial. I have seen no evidence that Medra is interested in doing so. If you go to the Medra web site, you will find that they are promising miraculous improvements literally dozens of conditions. By the way, if you go to the IRM web site, you will find the same story, unsubstantiated claims that their cells are curing many diseases.

There is no reason at all to believe that Medra has anything to offer that would be beneficial for spinal cord injury. Some of the links in my previous post details out some of the story. I know a number of people who have gone and wasted their time and money, treating themselves or their kids with so-called stem cells. I doubt if there is anybody affiliated with the company who knows anything about spinal cord injury. So, any claim of recovery is suspect. In short, I think that Medra is a scam that is taking advantage of desperate people.

Regarding Schwann cells, there is very little evidence that autologous adult Schwann cell transplants are beneficial in animal spinal cord injury models. While the Miami Project reported that Schwann cells, Rolipram, and db cAMP stimulates regeneration of the spinal cord, this was a combination study that showed relatively little effect of Schwann cells alone. I am keeping a close eye on clinical trials going on in China with fetal Schwann cells and autologous bone marrow stem cells. However, to date, I do not believe that any of the results are better than the fetal OEG results in Beijing.

Wise.

[Steven Edwards]

Thanks Wise and Steven !! I sent them a very detailed email of inquiry 3 days ago and have no response. Wise, if they can legally do this intravenously, why can't Shwann cells be administered to a demylinated spinal cord in the way Dr.Huang does with key hole surgery or something simpler???

Mike

You're welcome, Mike.

They are able to do this legally because the surgery takes place in the Dominican Republic, where the FDA has no jurisdiction. They are allowed to advertise in the United States (free speech), but cannot administer it here.

One thing that has always confused me about these places offering so-called cures for SCI is that they all usually run about the same cost -- $30,000. With the cost-of-living differences between the various places, how come they all cost the same amount? Is that the "going rate" for cure scams?

[Steven Edwards]

they also have no dna so there is no chance of rejection ?? I'm writing the advertiser.

Mike

I think they are trying to say that the fetal cells are not yet expressing antigens that will trigger an immune response leading to rejection, but don't quote me on that.

[mikek]

Thanks Wise and Steven, I never got a response from Dr.Rader but I did send an email to wwwallstreetreporter.com expressing my disappointment in their lack of screening their clients more carefully. I didn't get a response from them either.

Mike

[jcskydriver]

Mikek, go to utube and put in for Dr Rader, and 4 videos will come up. That should give you the answers. After talking to people that went down to Rader and the scam system he has going, I decided my son who has CP is not going to do it. Rader also has group that answers questions, that had kids that went there, and are doing better, I do not how true that is. They all are Medra Reps, they claim. Then I ask for other parents outside the group to talk to with there results, but nothing. Rader Claims that he has helped 1500 patents, you would think he would want to get me hook up with parents that had the same thing, but nothing.