Stem cell doctor forced to close his clinic after child’s death is back in business
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9192216/Stem-cell-doctor-forced-to-close-his-clinic-after-childs-death-is-back-in-business.html
The boss behind Europe's largest stem cell clinic, which was shut down following the death of a child in its care, is back in business working in partnership with a British laboratory.
The XCell-Center was ordered to close following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph into its controversial therapies.
The clinic was accused of preying on thousands of vulnerable patients — many of them British — who travelled to its hospital in Dusseldorf in Germany for treatment that cost tens of thousands of pounds but was clinically unproven.
But after an undercover investigation by The Sunday Telegraph, which revealed how one child died and another was seriously injured after stem cells were injected into their brains, German authorities forced the clinic’s closure.
Its chief executive and founder, Cornelis Kleinbloesem, has now relocated his business to Lebanon, using a London company to process patients’ stem cells.
His company, Cells4health, is offering brain surgery for £23,000 and spinal cord operations for £32,000.
It has entered into a partnership with a British firm, Precious Cells International, which is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority, the British watchdog. The case exposes a loophole in British and international law on unproven medical treatments.
Although Dr Kleinbloesem is prevented from charging for unproven — and possibly dangerous — treatments in Europe, he is legally entitled to use the UK-licensed laboratory to process the stem cells.
Patients fly to his clinic in Lebanon where doctors remove bone marrow. This is then sent to Precious Cells’ laboratory on the campus of Brunel University, in Uxbridge, west London, for processing.
The stem cells are extracted from the bone marrow in the Precious Cells lab and returned to Lebanon where they are injected into patients with incurable illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.
Dr Kleinbloesem is using the British lab to facilitate his new venture while making a virtue of its licence from the British authorities in promotional material sent to potential patients.
He announced his comeback in an email sent to XCell’s patients.
He will hope that at least some make the journey to Lebanon for follow-up treatments.
Inquiries by The Sunday Telegraph traced the London laboratory to Precious Cells International, which was founded by a British scientist, Husein Salem, two years ago.
He said at first he was unsure if Cells4health was linked to XCell but then added when pressed: “The owner is the same.”
Of Dr Kleinbloesem, Dr Salem said: “He is a scientist XCell was closed last May, following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph eight months earlier, which disclosed that an 18-month-old baby from Italy had died after being injected with stem cells in the brain.
Three months earlier, a 10-year-old boy from Azerbaijan almost died in the same procedure.
As part of its investigation, The Sunday Telegraph secretly filmed a doctor at the clinic telling an undercover reporter, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of multiple sclerosis, that he could walk again if he paid for treatment.
Dr Salem said of the child’s death: “This is before we were involved. My understanding is it was actually a needle nicked an artery that led to haemorrhaging... It wasn’t anything to do with the stem cells themselves.”
The XCell clinic previously used a different British company to process stem cells — a firm called BioVault, the largest human tissue bank in the country.
It is understood BioVault, which is based in Plymouth, fell out with Dr Kleinbloesem. XCell filed for insolvency after being shut down and is believed to owe money to a number of companies as well as, it is understood, patients who lost deposits.
Melvyn Danvers, who runs Danvers International, a British company specialising in transportation for the medical and science industries, said he was owed about £60,000 by XCell. “I wouldn’t touch Kleinbloesem with a barge pole,” he said.
Douglas Sipp, an academic specialising in scientific ethics and who has highlighted the problems caused by private stem cell clinics, said: “The profit margins on spurious stem cell treatments seem to be addictive.
"Nothing seems to have changed at Dr Kleinbloesem’s renamed and relocated centre — patients should stay well away.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9192216/Stem-cell-doctor-forced-to-close-his-clinic-after-childs-death-is-back-in-business.html
The boss behind Europe's largest stem cell clinic, which was shut down following the death of a child in its care, is back in business working in partnership with a British laboratory.
The XCell-Center was ordered to close following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph into its controversial therapies.
The clinic was accused of preying on thousands of vulnerable patients — many of them British — who travelled to its hospital in Dusseldorf in Germany for treatment that cost tens of thousands of pounds but was clinically unproven.
But after an undercover investigation by The Sunday Telegraph, which revealed how one child died and another was seriously injured after stem cells were injected into their brains, German authorities forced the clinic’s closure.
Its chief executive and founder, Cornelis Kleinbloesem, has now relocated his business to Lebanon, using a London company to process patients’ stem cells.
His company, Cells4health, is offering brain surgery for £23,000 and spinal cord operations for £32,000.
It has entered into a partnership with a British firm, Precious Cells International, which is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority, the British watchdog. The case exposes a loophole in British and international law on unproven medical treatments.
Although Dr Kleinbloesem is prevented from charging for unproven — and possibly dangerous — treatments in Europe, he is legally entitled to use the UK-licensed laboratory to process the stem cells.
Patients fly to his clinic in Lebanon where doctors remove bone marrow. This is then sent to Precious Cells’ laboratory on the campus of Brunel University, in Uxbridge, west London, for processing.
The stem cells are extracted from the bone marrow in the Precious Cells lab and returned to Lebanon where they are injected into patients with incurable illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.
Dr Kleinbloesem is using the British lab to facilitate his new venture while making a virtue of its licence from the British authorities in promotional material sent to potential patients.
He announced his comeback in an email sent to XCell’s patients.
He will hope that at least some make the journey to Lebanon for follow-up treatments.
Inquiries by The Sunday Telegraph traced the London laboratory to Precious Cells International, which was founded by a British scientist, Husein Salem, two years ago.
He said at first he was unsure if Cells4health was linked to XCell but then added when pressed: “The owner is the same.”
Of Dr Kleinbloesem, Dr Salem said: “He is a scientist XCell was closed last May, following an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph eight months earlier, which disclosed that an 18-month-old baby from Italy had died after being injected with stem cells in the brain.
Three months earlier, a 10-year-old boy from Azerbaijan almost died in the same procedure.
As part of its investigation, The Sunday Telegraph secretly filmed a doctor at the clinic telling an undercover reporter, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of multiple sclerosis, that he could walk again if he paid for treatment.
Dr Salem said of the child’s death: “This is before we were involved. My understanding is it was actually a needle nicked an artery that led to haemorrhaging... It wasn’t anything to do with the stem cells themselves.”
The XCell clinic previously used a different British company to process stem cells — a firm called BioVault, the largest human tissue bank in the country.
It is understood BioVault, which is based in Plymouth, fell out with Dr Kleinbloesem. XCell filed for insolvency after being shut down and is believed to owe money to a number of companies as well as, it is understood, patients who lost deposits.
Melvyn Danvers, who runs Danvers International, a British company specialising in transportation for the medical and science industries, said he was owed about £60,000 by XCell. “I wouldn’t touch Kleinbloesem with a barge pole,” he said.
Douglas Sipp, an academic specialising in scientific ethics and who has highlighted the problems caused by private stem cell clinics, said: “The profit margins on spurious stem cell treatments seem to be addictive.
"Nothing seems to have changed at Dr Kleinbloesem’s renamed and relocated centre — patients should stay well away.”