Has any one heard of Regencell?

www.regenecell.com

I have sent them the inquiry and got a reply back from them in Dec. 2007.  I am attaching the attachments as well.  Here is what they wrote:

Thank you for your interest in the Regenecell stem cell therapy program. Thalassemia is one of the diseases that responds to stem cell therapy.

We treat in Mumbai, India. The process involves 4 days spent visiting the clinic for 2 hours per day, where your nephew will receive an intravenous injection of 2 million umbilical cord stem cells per day. Transport to and from the clinic is provided free of charge – you will be collected at about 3:30 pm daily. The next dates are from the 21 – 24 Jan 2008. The clinic is run by Dr Hasnain Patel, a specialist physician, and is situated in Bombay Central, on Bellasis Rd opposite the Hotel Sahil, which is where most of our patients stay.

Two types of cells are used; the CD34+ cell and the mesenchymal cell. A brochure is attached to give you more information on why these types are used. The type of cell is determined by the nature of the condition being treated and no rejection reactions have been noted since the cells are immune depleted. The cells are produced according to extremely strict standards and protocols and are tested twice for all common diseases before freezing. A certificate of analysis will be provided once your treatment is completed.

We charge €12 000 (Euro) for the procedure to be paid 6 weeks prior to treatment.

Please complete the attached forms and return to me after which you will be contacted by telephone. A brochure and some info are also attached.

Please call if you have any questions.
Kind regards.
 

Dr. Jeff Peimer
MBChB (UCT)

Medical Consultant

 

Regenecell | Bringing Bioscience to Life
mobile: +27 72 850 5565 | skype: regenecell | email: jeff@regenecell.com | website: www.regenecell.com

usa/canada toll free 1-800-655-5844  |  uk toll free 0-808-101-0930 | australia toll free 1-800-332-159
address: studio one | tenth floor | four loop street | cape town | 8001

Here is a second attachment that they have sent me.

Well, if you have $$, there will always be those who want to separate you from your $$. There are some common warning signs I see when trying to research various companies online. When almost everything you can find about a company is the result of the company placing the same statement over and over on multiple websites, it does raise alarms. But, if I look long enough I can usually find at least one source that was not planted by the company.

In regards to this particular company, I found the following article.
From http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=73

But patients do not need to travel to China to be victimized - they can be injected with stem cells from cord blood through various companies online. Regenecell claims their treatment is useful for “Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Stroke, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Anti-ageing.” None of these claims have been established by clinical research. It should also be noted that stem cell technology has not even progressed to the point that is can be deemed safe.

I believe that from the available facts that this is an accurate statement.

There are all sorts of claims being made by many different companies about injecting various things into one's body and these claims are made about all sorts of diseases and disorders and the so called therapies are the same regardless of what condition is being treated. When Dr Vichinsky, Dr Wood, Dr Porter, Dr Weatherall, Dr Cohen and all the rest stand up and say "here it is folks", then I will be a believer. Until then, all I can say is watch your wallets.

When will they stop playing with our lives and emotions.

Ahhh..... Alas ....
it realy hurt's ...... when heard a news like this ...

This thread has taken an interesting turn. I received the following email from Sid Peimer.

Libel

Dear Andy

Our company name is disparaged in the following thread:

http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=1848.0

There is no basis for this, and would appreciate its removal.

Should you require any further information on Regenecell, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards

Sid Peimer

sid peimer dip pharm mba (uct)
managing director

Regenecell | Bringing Bioscience to Life

I have responded to his email with the following.

Dear Sid,

Nothing in that thread is inaccurate or can even be called disparaging. Disparagement would require that someone mentioned your company and no one mentioned your company other than the original poster who simply asked if anyone has heard of your company. The only reference to your company is a quote from an article that mentions your company. Advising people to be cautious in spending money on unproven therapies in general, without even mentioning any particular company is not disparagement, and your company is not mentioned in this context. Suggesting libel is very serious and can be construed as harassment, and at the least is an intimidation attempt. There is nothing in any of the posts that in any way libels your company. In fact, I have not even used your company's name. The only mention is from someone asking if anyone has heard of your company or knows anything about your company's claims. The only other mention is a quote from an article at Science-Based Medicine. Reporting what they said is simply reporting and nothing else. I would be very interested in what you think disparages your company in these posts and also why you would choose the word "libel" as your subject for this email. General mention of companies making claims in no way can be construed as a comment on any particular company.

I will be more than happy to review any independent analysis of your results using your therapy, but it seems there is still nothing available online that can back up any claim made by your company. Has there been any independent analysis done of your company's work? Can you provide anything than your own company's assertions to back up your claims, other than your own claims? Where are the trials for your treatments? Please explain how the same treatment can be used for almost every disease and disorder known to man. When Dr Jeff Peimer makes the statement "Thalassemia is one of the diseases that responds to stem cell therapy" what does the word respond mean? Is Dr Peimer making a claim that your treatment can cure thalassemia? In what ways can your treatment enhance the health of thalassemics? Why are you attaching a document about human stem cell transplant when your "stem cell therapy" is not HSCT and is in no way related to this process? What is the relevance of this document to your treatment?

Please do not send emails with subject "libel" and baseless accusations of disparagement. I consider this to be harassment. What there is no basis for, is your email and your complaint.

Please be aware that anything you say to me will be reported in an open forum.

Andy

I am going to ask that members do refrain from making any comments or assumptions about this or any other company. I am very careful in what I say and I ask the same of everyone. We do not want to be made targets of frivolous legal proceedings, so let's stick to the facts. I will still recommend that before anyone seek treatment for any health problem, that they thoroughly investigate the treatment and the company offering the treatment. Can you find any independent corroboration of a company's claims? Have medical trials been done to prove the treatment works? When money is involved, anything can happen, so please be cautious and my advice is to stick to proven treatments. Any legitimate treatment will be able to back up any claims with real medical evidence. Thalassemia is a disorder with real proven treatments. Please take advantage of what has been proven to work. This is my advice. Everyone is free to make their own decisions.

Please do not say anything that could be construed as disparagement. I will delete any post that does so. Companies are free to make claims and we are free to ignore them.

I do have something to say about companies that prey on desperation and raise false hopes while cleaning out the bank accounts of those in need of help, but that is a different topic altogether and should not be construed as a comment about any particular company or in any way relevant to this thread, and will be addressed elsewhere.

OK Andy,

As you say , Got it .

Zaini.

Andy,

I agree completely.  We have been and will always be very careful Andy.

Sharmin

Super job, Andy.

Cheers

Thanks Andy for your reply

I totally agree

manal

well, the company do not mean me at all. but i do care about the idea.
the question that always conflict me is:
why we do not make:
#pure stem cell transfusion using stem cells from cord blood: We can try to  purify  cord blood stem cells, then make transfusion of these cells to the patient without any myeloablasion as if it is a classic transfusion process but for stem cells instead of blood.
But there are challenges here which are:
-Graft failure due to host versus graft disease (HVGD) as a result of removing donor T cells population?
-To what extent will be the risk of HVGD and what is the recommended HLA matching degree here?
However, if this idea succeeded, that means that we:
     - Overcame the risk of myeloablasion adverse effects.
#even in case of that these stem cells can only work for only some time, we can make it a routine transfusion instead of blood transfusion (the advantage here that we can use only one source of chord stem cells for every patient) and expand these cells by By using stem cells expansion techniques, we will Culture the stem cells and make invitro cell expansion to the greatest extend (we treat stem cells here as if we are treating  any organism we want to get the maximum production and duplication from it as if we are making culture to any bacterial cells!!!) to get more and more cells. so that patient can come to the clinic and take his dose of stem cell injection from his stored source of cultured stem cells every certain interval of time.

i am only thinking!!!! i tried to ask my doctors but they had nothing to tell me. and there are no facilities to make research on such stuff!!!

P.S.here is a drawing to explain problems of stem cell transplantation in brief attached to the post

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There is very little scientific evidence to back up the theory that randomly injecting stem cells into the blood can have any positive effect on human health or correct genetic disorders. Stem cell therapy and stem cell transplant (SCT) are very different procedures and whereas, with a SCT the new stem cells must thrive and multiply in the new host as though they were that person's own stem cells, with stem cell therapy, there is no evidence that there will be any recognition by the host body that these injected stem cells are anything of value to the body or will be able to replicate and provide working stem cells for the new host. This theory so far, is more science fiction that science and this is why many of these various doctors involved in these stem cell injections, tend to operate in the shadows in countries where there is very little if any regulation. In a stem cell transplant, as is the case with bone marrow transplant, the graft vs host disease occurs because a non-native batch of cells is introduced into the body and the body rejects it. This is why the immune system is suppressed for these procedures. A functioning immune system would reject the invading cells, so the immune system is wiped out and suppressed so that the transplant can take hold and succeed. Even with all the attempts to prevent it, GVHD will still occur to some degree.

The comments about stem cell therapy are not meant to imply any specific doctor or clinic.

The patients and their families have every right to look into facts of any claims made by anybody. This is our life and a matter of grave situation for us. Since when, researching the scientific claims made by different companies constitutes disparage the work of that company. If that is true, then there is no objective discussion and you are forced to accept any claim made by anybody.

Super work Andy.

CF,

So true. Everyone does have a right to see results when these outrageous claims are made by various doctors and companies but we never see a single result and trying to get info from people who have fallen for various scams is very difficult. Perhaps it is out of shame that they were duped. Perhaps, even after spending all the money with no results, they still believe the doctors were genuine and really did care about them. And perhaps, people sign contracts with these companies that prevents them from making any comments about the procedures or results. I'm betting the latter is being used by many companies that don't want the results or lack thereof, from being made public.

The proof is in the pudding and in this case, no one can even find the pudding. 

The proof is in the pudding and in this case, no one can even find the pudding.