France's National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) warned on Monday, August 10, about two websites promoting stem cell therapies that are not authorized in France and that claim to treat several serious diseases with no scientific basis.
The ANSM said the websites Liv Hospital and You StemCell falsely claim their therapies cure diseases such as autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, infertility and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Charcot's disease. The agency said both companies are based in Turkey.
No Advertising Approval Granted
The ANSM said stem cell therapy meets the legal definition of a medicine, but the treatments in question have not received marketing authorization in France or Europe. As a result, their effectiveness, safety and quality have not been demonstrated, the agency said.
The ANSM has suspended the illegal promotion of these therapies, which it said can pose a health risk. It stressed that no advertising approval has been granted by the ANSM to these companies, meaning they are not authorized to promote the treatments. The agency added that such treatments can also cause patients to lose a chance at recovery if they forgo or delay an approved treatment.
The regulator urged patients who have used either therapy to contact healthcare professionals and to report any adverse effects. The European Medicines Agency has previously warned about online providers offering unregulated therapies within the European Union that use immune system cells, such as dendritic cells or CAR-T cells, to treat cancer.
