August 24, 2008
Researchers skeptical of foreign treatment: American experts want
more scientific proof from Dr. William Rader about his methods.
(York Daily Record (PA) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 24--
READ MORE: SAVING SHAWNA -- A search for hope
Since 1995, more than 1,000 patients have spent up to $30,000 for
stem cell treatments with Dr. William Rader, a Malibu, Calif.,
psychiatrist.
His Web site, www.medra.com, said that since 1995, he successfully
treated patients with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, autism, cerebral
palsy, Parkinson's disease and AIDS at his Caribbean clinics.
U.S. researchers said his claims can't be believed until he follows
the rules of scientific medicine and publishes his research.
Fia Richmond is the founder of Children's Neurobiological Solutions
Foundation, a California-based nonprofit that funds U.S. stem cell
research. In 1999, she took her son Palmer, then 4, to Rader's
Bahamas clinic for treatment for a brain injury he's had since birth.
Instead of seeing improvement, Richmond said, he had an increased
number of seizures.
"(Rader) wasn't a neurologist,
me."
It's been almost 10 years and Palmer still doesn't walk or talk.
Dr. Chi Van Dang, vice dean of research at Johns Hopkins University,
oversees the Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. He said it's
unfortunate, but there are doctors who exploit the desperation of
patients and their families. He said he doesn't know enough about
Rader to comment specifically on him.
Dang said he hopes these doctors have the answers to cure
man's most devastating diseases, but he hasn't seen any scientific
proof.
Richmond said Rader refuses to work with scientists to prove his work.
"If it's working," she said, "he should work to make it available for
everyone in this country and abroad."
Dang said, optimistically, the U.S. is still a few years away from
getting FDA approval to put stem cell treatments into clinical
trials. Using animal models, Dang said, the university researchers
are at the early stages of understanding the cells. Dealing with the
spine and brain is sensitive work, he said.
Rader didn't return phone calls for comment. But his Web site says
the treatment is harmless. In a video posted on the site, he
said, "In reality, I don't do anything. And the reason I am saying
that is all I do is put in the cells and then, nature, God, whatever
you want to say takes care of the rest. I don't tell them where to
go, I don't give them a diagnosis," he said.
His pitch brings parents from all over the world to relieve their
children's suffering, even though Richmond and others in the medical
community discourage it.
"The majority of parents will still go, because they are at the end
of their ropes," she said. "I feel like sometimes it doesn't matter
what I say."
nlefever@ydr.
CONCEPT TO CONSUMER
The process to get a procedure or drug approved for consumer use is
long and involved.
Whoever develops the idea will typically seek to register and file
for patent protection. During the research process, scientists
subject their findings to peer review in medical literature. Animal
models are used for testing to get all the details correct. Then the
method must go through three phases of human clinical trials before
it will be approved by the FDA.
http://www.tmcnet.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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