Experience with Theravitae
I am not going to say that Theravitae is out-and-out fraudulent, but they certainly made claims and promises that they didn't keep in my case, and were very difficult to work with:
I went to Bangkok for cardiac autologous stem cell treatment early in 2007. Prior to wire-transferring $35,000 to these people (was to include everything except airfare), I had a month-long contact with them by phone and email. I was very concerned because I had acute ischemia, and they were going to do a catheter treatment (same as angiogram) and my 2 cardiologists were interested more in either the direct robot injection (into the heart) method, or syringe (inside the catheter) into the heart while doing the catheter treatment. This company has you talk to highly intelligent English-speaking people on their toll-free phone number up until the time that you wire the money. At that point, their level of how much they care dwindles quickly. Anyhow, I first told them that one of my cardiologists would like to speak to the Thailand cardiologist (which they said could be done) but then they delayed this happening until it finally wasn't done. I had also asked to speak or exchange email with the cardiologist there, which never happened. They finally relayed "his reply" which wasn't even a forwarded email, so I never knew if it came from him before I left USA. What they did was to schedule a blood draw date that required my sending the money and leaving USA on a certain date, and like a fool, I sent the money. They were supposed to meet me at the Bangkok airport (part of the agreement) but they didn't show up. Instead, they sent a hotel representative who didn't know who he was looking for, and I stood very scared in the Bangkok airport for about 1/2 hour until we found each other. We wanted hotel upgrades, and got ripped off for that also, since the $35,000 was to include the basic room. They ended up lying to me about the upgrade costs, which I knew were not correct. They promised transportation for me or my travel companion to or from the hospital. They didn't tell me that this was limited, and had to end at 5pm, even though I was spending the night in the hospital for some nights there. They promised fully English-speaking guides, and most of their employees could speak only spotty English, and didn't understand a lot of what I was telling them or asking them. The same was true for nurses - they promised English-speaking nurses, and most of them only knew a few words of English. They promised sightseeing, but didn't tell me that this was limited to one day a week, and only to wherever they wanted to take me. They lied about how many days in the hospital would be required, and tried to keep me many extra nights there (for testing purposes) that were not needed, and I had to fight with doctors to get back to the hotel on other nights. I ended up having to stay an additional week in Bangkok, because my blood draw was deemed to be "contaminated" when it got to their Israel lab, which in fact wasn't true at all. They had to do an additional draw, which kept me there the additional week. Their literature encouraged me to stay an extra 3 days in Bangkok to promote better recovery, but they didn't want to pay the 3 extra nights in the hotel!!!! I ended up making several complaining phone calls (instead of relaxing) and they ended up paying the extra nights. There were many, many other promises made that were not kept by Theravitae, but they are of lesser importance.
The two doctors I saw there were quite good and caring and spoke fine English, but I was never able to talk to them about the treatment that my cardiologists wanted, because they had already determined what the treatment would be. I was not admitted to the hospital that could do the robot injection into the heart, and they were not about to modify their procedure for a syringe injection from the catheter.
I was totally fed up with Theravitae by the time I left Bangkok. I told them that I didn't want any email or phone followup by anyone from their company at any time in the future. When I got home, I got two phone calls from their USA followup coordinator person, even though I told her the first time not to call again.
What REALLY MADE ME ANGRY, was that I then saw my two cardiologists (they are in 2 cities) and each of them asked me WHY THE STEM CELLS WERE INJECTED BY CATHETER to portions of my heart that already had adequate flow!!!? They asked me why the doctors there had not done something to inject stem cells to the areas that did NOT have adequate blood flow? I was, and still am highly frustrated that my question, and my doctor's questions were never answered, beginning two weeks from BEFORE I left USA. Why I wire transferred the money and went there, I will never know.
Anyhow, it has been 6+ months since my stem-cell injection by Theravitae in Bangkok, and I have had no improvements whatsoever.
I would have strongly recommended AGAINST anyone doing business with this company if their treatment had been helpful to me. Since it wasn't, I really recommend against anyone doing business with them.
Another thing that concerns me about Theravitae are the "patient volunteers" that they hook prospective patients up with. I never spoke to any of them, but these are all people who post their pictures and experiences on Theravitae's website after their successful treatments. Then they "volunteer" to tell prospective patients how happy they are with Theravitae. Maybe this is legitimate, maybe not, but it sure raises a big red flag (or should have, in my case.)
Also, as I hinted at earlier, they do a really full, professional sales job with highly intelligent sales staff until the deal is done. Then, you get several emails asking if you have wired the money, and asking you to FAX proof that you have wired the money. This is a USA/Israel run company (I think) doing business mainly in Thailand and you send the money to their Hong Kong bank.
Boy...I am stupid!!
They are on the web at:
http://www.theravitae.com
also:
http://www.theravitaeinc.com/
and also:
http://www.vescell.com
Your mileage may vary, but I do advise:
BUYER BEWARE!!
DISCLAIMER:
This is simply my opinion based on my own personal experience. What I say happened to me did happen to me, but there are likely people that have been treated by them and are very happy with their treatment. I am not stating that everyone will have my experience. Some people are easier to please than others, etc. etc.
Harv