Someone named Doug Herich joined this forum last May and said he was Director of Patient Services for ProGenaCell. He made a few posts on this forum stating he was here to educate all of us. When I explained the rules to him that we do not allow the promotion of services from sales reps, doctors or anyone selling something without the approval of either Jeannine or me, he began e-mailing me privately with some pretty nasty e-mails directed at what he indicated was my ignorance if xeno transplantation. He claimed his son had kidney disease and had benefited greatly from treatment and that he was not selling anything.
Here is part of an e-mail he sent me:
"I look forward to establishing and building a long term relationship with you, your partner Jeannine and your growing membership base. We strive to keep the public at large informed of the latest advancements and treatments that we make available to Americans and patients located around the globe. Safety, efficacy and staying within the legal guidelines established by the FDA and other government agencies are of foremost concern. Everything we offer to our patients is 100% legal and the protocol we employ is tried and true which means we are far beyond the "research" stage and have been in the "application" stage for well over 30 years. Our own Dr. Ulrich Friedrichson opened his treatment clinic located in southern Germany way back in 1976 and his reputation today is nothing short of iconic. He currently treats more than 240 patients every day of the week, has both Phd and MD designations with emphasis in oncology and auto immune related dis-ease. We also have other highly respected MD's on our team that are willing and able to field questions from your members."
If this doctor treats 240 patients every day of the week, that is 1680 patients weekly which equates to 87600 patients a year. Wow, that's a lot of patients being treated.
When I told him I was going to check with the FDA as far as the legality of the treatment, he sent another e-mail stating it wasn't the FDA he had meant, but U.S. Customs that allowed the product to be brought into the U.S.
"If you are going to check on the legality of patients bringing their own stem cell medicine in from our sister clinic in Germany (after the initial 5 day treatment, they are given product to administer for the next 20 days), it's actually not the FDA that regulates the legal entry of our stem cell product into the USA....it is the U.S. Customs office (under DHS) right here in Los Angeles (LAX) and I have a name and phone number of the regional director for your convenience should you wish to verify this with him. His name is Andrew Seaborn Ph: 310-594-0836 and I would suggest you ask HIM if frozen stem cell product are considered "live cells" by his department. The average person understands that live cells do not stay alive when they are cryopreserved....nothing can live at temperatures of -50C which is the temp that our product is flash frozen. "
He did not heed the warning about promotional posting so we eventually had to ban him from the forum. He kept up for awhile with the personal e-mails, but eventually I heard no more from him until he started the same thing on another blog with a PhD friend of mine.
A few months ago I heard from a forum member who was none too happy about his encounter with this company. Doug Herich is apparently no longer with the company although I can't verify it or know for sure if he was a real person even, but this member was not happy and felt he had been duped and pressured. I did post a notice about it, however, the owner of the company contacted the executive director of ICMS and said he would sue us if I didn't remove the post. I do not fold under such threats, however, in this instance the member making the complaint was scared and unwilling to post about the experience or allow me to post the e-mail correspondence that was made. At that point, I did remove the warning post because the information I received from the forum member should have, in all fairness, been posted by that member I felt. At this point, I would recommend that patients interested in this type of treatment contact the FDA or a major research facility. We have no interest in xeno transplantation discussion here.
The internet seems to be scrubbed free of Doug as far as his ProGenaCell connection as are some links he sent me. He also said he was starting his own blog that would outdo this forum. I have no clue what happened to him or his blog.
The sheer volume of patients that Herich said had been treated and the number of years this has occurred (according to him) would make this clinic one of the largest in the world. Why would any patient want to keep that a secret? The internet should be full of information about these patients and their successful treatments they got at ProGenaCell. Unfortunately, I have been challenged by not being able to find any testimonials, published papers, etc.
This came up in a search for Doug Herich. Another patient unable to find any information. Where are all those thousands of patients? I am hoping that the company itself will start making them accessible.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/diabetes/articles/2009/03/13/stem-cells-10-diseases-they-may--or-may-not--cure/comments/5?page=2
I can not find any reviews from patients that have had stem cell treatments at Progenacell in Baja Ca. Anyone know anything about Progenacell, Thanks, Russ
RUSSELL KREKORIAN of MA 4:46PM March 02, 2012