The International Cellular Medicine Society (ICSM) is a global nonprofit organization comprised of patients, physicians, and researchers from over 35 countries on 6 continents. The goal of the ICMS is to protect patient safety through the publication of best practice guidelines to help physicians collect, process, and re-implant stem cells and by providing long term proactive outcome and complications tracking from stem cell procedures.
WHO IS THE ICMS?
The ICMS is a patient safety advocacy organization.
WHY IS PATIENT SAFETY IMPORTANT? While there is much literature in scientific and medical journals showing evidence and promise of stem cells as therapeutic procedures, these are still experimental treatments. By providing condition-specific outcome measurements and complications questionnaires to patients after they have had stem cell treatments, it is the goal of the ICMS through its Treatment Registries to show the long term effects of stem cell therapies.
WHAT DOES THE ICMS MEAN BY PEER OVERSIGHT? As a global organization dedicated to patient safety, the ICMS brings together a group of qualified patients, physicians, and researchers to advance best practice standards as well as provide guidance and supervision for the clinical and laboratory practices of stem cell treatment centers.
WHY DOES THE ICMS SUPPORT ADULT STEM CELLS? The ICMS believes that autologous adult stem cells represent the ability of the body to heal itself and that these therapies have significant data from medical and scientific journals showing their utility in treating certain conditions today. We believe that a patient has a right to access such therapies as long as those they are given by licensed physicians and that the patient is fully informed of all of the risks associated with that treatment.
ARE ALL STEM CELL TYPES AND THERAPIES VIABLE TODAY? No. At this time, due to a lack of data and peer reviewed science and medical journals, we feel that there are certain cell types that are not ready for usage by patients today, such as:
• Induced Pluripotent Cells (IPS), and • Autologous Adult Stem Cells where genes have been manipulated
The ICMS believes that there should be more data to support patient safety before these cell types are used to treat conditions today.
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE ICMS?
To provide education, oversight and best practices to assure patient safety, ethical conduct and effective treatment,
To build a comprehensive registry of adult stem cell procedures and prove 20 year tracking of patient outcomes, complications
To provide clinical and laboratory guidelines to assure that physicians and clinics worldwide are using best practices to collect process and re-implant adult stem cells in patients, and
To provide an international Institutional Review Board to classify, monitor and advance safe and effective cell lines and procedures.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT MY PROCEDURE IS TRACKED IN THE ICMS TREATMENT REGISTRIES? It is important to have your procedure tracked by the ICMS Treatment Registries because while supported by numerous papers, these treatments are still considered experimental. Therefore, providing long term follow-up is the only way to show the effects of these therapies. Additionally, since these treatments are for the most part being administered abroad, the ICMS becomes a critical patient advocate. Through our contractual relationship with participating clinics and our duty to the patients whose $350 donation supports the registry, the ICMS is able to assure that any potential adverse events are adjudicated by the treating clinic and that a remedy is provided to the patient. Without the ICMS, patients would have no direct recourse to the clinics and the clinics would not be forced to respond to patient complaints.
WHY DO PATIENTS HAVE TO PAY FOR ENTRY INTO THE REGISTRY? The ICMS is a patient safety focused organization. By having patients support the work of the ICMS, we are beholden to the patient, not the clinic. As such, the ICMS can maintain its independence and provide unbiased reports on the safety of stem cell procedures. Eighty five percent of the $350 provided by patients to the ICMS for participation in the treatment registry is used to provide patient follow-up.
