World Stem Cells Second Participant in ICMS Stem Cell Clinic Accreditation Program

MAY 10, 2011. PORTLAND, OREGON – The International Cellular Medicine Society (ICMS) announced today the second participating clinic in its Stem Cell Clinic Accreditation Program.  Formal contracts have been signed by World Stem Cells, LLC (WSC) on behalf of its exclusive contract clinic, Advanced Cellular Medicine Clinic in Cancun, Mexico.

These contracts attest that WSC will provide the utmost level of transparency in regards to its clinical and medical practices. All treatment processes, patient informed consent protocols, and patient candidacy documentation will be reviewed by the institutional review board of the ICMS.  The clinic’s cell collection, processing, and implantation practices will all be examined for compliance with the ICMS Best Practice Guidelines. Additionally, all patients treated with stem cells by WSC will be entered into the ICMS Treatment Registry for outcome and complication tracking.  If, at the end of this rigorous 18 month program, the clinic passes all compliance measures, lab audits, and reporting standards, WSC will receive full accreditation from the ICMS.

“We at World Stem Cells, LLC are very pleased to take the steps necessary to formally engage with the ICMS, in the accreditation program.  We have submitted prior patients into the registry, having recognized the need for transparency, from the onset of our clinic treatments. Our state of the art laboratory and the association with Amerimed hospitals gives us unique opportunities to excel in stem cell treatments,” says Dr. Alan Kadish, President of WSC.

Dra. Sylvia Abblitt, the Medical and Laboratory Director of Advanced Cellular Medical Clinic shares the same enthusiasm.   “Our expansion and engagement with ICMS is a groundbreaking event for Mexican involvement in international stem cell therapeutics,” said Dra. Abblitt. “Our years of experience will be well represented within the registry.”

World Stem Cells has its contracted clinical facility Advanced Cellular Medicine Clinic in the heart of the medical district of Cancun.  The clinic provides quality stem cell therapies including the use of bone marrow, cord and adipose for harvesting of stem cells. Advanced Cellular Medicine’s medical team of exclusively board certified specialists provides specific stem cell therapeutics for a number of well-researched disorders.

A full explanation of the ICMS Accreditation program can be found HERE.

International Stem Cell Society Announces Over 750 Adult Stem Cell Patient Cases Tracked in Treatment Registry

MARCH 31, 2011. PORTLAND, OREGON – The International Cellular Medicine Society has accomplished a significant milestone through its Stem Cell Patient Treatment Registry.  Today the Society announced that the ICMS Treatment Registry has reached over 750 patient cases being tracked.  As a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring patient safety, facilitating physician education, and providing peer oversight, this level of oversight and transparency is a significant landmark for the  for the field and promise of cell based medicine.

“Patient safety is the foundation of the ICMS,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, MD, a director of the ICMS and co-chair of the Medical Advisory Board. “Through best practice standards, clinic accreditation and now this sizeable pool of patient outcome and complication data, the ICMS has established itself as the premiere organization in advancing adult stem cell treatments that are based on the principals of good patient care.” Participation in the Treatment Registry is reserved for those clinics that meet the Society’s minimum standards and been reviewed by the ICMS Institutional Review Board.

The 750 patients have all received autologous adult stem cell treatments and have been tracked in the ICMS Treatment Registry, a secure, web-based data collection system that tracks patient-reported outcomes and complications from patient surveys and interviews at 3, 6, and 12 months, and 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 20 years after the treatment.  The rate of complication from these treatments has been less than 2%, and no severe adverse events have been reported. “To have this number of patients and have a rate of complications this low speaks to the safety profile of self-donated cells,” said David Audley, the Executive Director of the ICMS.

While the ICMS has collected tremendous amounts of data, the organization is adamant about maintaining the privacy of the patients and the confidentiality of the treatment protocols. The data stored in the Registry, including the processes by which the cells are collected and administered, as well as specific patient outcomes, are secure, private and available only to the clinic, the patient and select reviewers of the ICMS. These reviewers, in turn, only access Registry data to evaluate protocols and audit patient outcomes, and are bound by strict confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements. Individual members of the ICMS have no access to either patient data or the confidential processes that clinics utilize to treat patients. The ICMS does not publish outcomes from specific clinics. The ICMS does, however, publish all unadjudicated complaints and findings resulting from investigations on reported severe adverse events.

The ICMS expects the number of patients tracked to increase rapidly and significantly with the recent launch of its Stem Cell Clinic Accreditation Program.  As the field of cell based medicine continues to advance and the number of clinics offering stem cell treatments around the world grows, the need for the services of the ICMS as trusted and independent authority to collect patient data and evaluate clinics will expand.

More information about the ICMS Registry and Clinic Accreditation Program can be found HERE

ICMS Announces First Participant in Stem Cell Clinic Accreditation Program

MARCH 15, 2011. PORTLAND, OREGON – The International Cellular Medicine Society (ICMS) publically announced today the first participating clinic in its new Stem Cell Clinic Accreditation Program.  The Society entered into its first, formal agreement with the Regenerative Medicine Institute (RMI) of Tijuana, Mexico, a leading stem cell treatment provider in Latin America.

Under this agreement, RMI will provide an unprecedented level of transparency into its clinical and medical practices. All treatment protocols, as well as patient informed consent and patient candidacy documentation will be reviewed by the institutional review board of the ICMS. “This accreditation process is unique.” says David Audley, Executive Director of the ICMS. “This is the only program to bring global best practice standards to cell based medical clinics. It is an important step for this emerging field of medicine and a critical step for patient safety.”

As part of the accreditation process, the ICMS will be investigating every aspect of the clinics practices, processes, and protocols.  RMI’s patient candidacy protocols, informed consent process, and cell collection, processing, and implantation practices will all be examined for compliance with the ICMS Best Practice Guidelines. Additionally, all RMI patients treated with stem cells will be entered into the ICMS Treatment Registry for outcome and complication tracking.  If, at the end of this rigorous 18 month program, RMI passes all compliance measures, lab audits, and reporting standards, the clinic will receive full accreditation from the ICMS.

“RMI welcomes the opportunity to participate in this program,” says Dr. Javier Lopez, President and CEO of RMI. “Patient safety is the highest priority of all of our physicians and staff.  We have no doubt that our clinic will be a model for others to emulate.”

Regenerative Medicine Institute is based out of Hospital Angeles Tijuana, a fully equipped state-of–the-art private specialties hospital.  The clinic claims to provide high quality chronic disease treatments centered around patient dignity and safety.  Its medical team of board certified specialists provides adipose-derived stem cell therapies to patients.

RMI is the first of a handful of clinics worldwide that have agreed to participate in this accreditation program. The ICMS will be announcing other clinic participants in the coming weeks. A full explanation of the ICMS Accreditation program can be found here.

Stem Cell Society Assembles Medical Advisory Board

Prominent group of physicians and researchers to provide leadership and oversight.

PORTLAND, OREGON, MARCH 1, 2011 – The International Cellular Medicine Society (ICMS), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to patient safety, physician education, and peer oversight,  announced today the creation of a new Medical Advisory Board.  The Society has created this board to provide a leadership role in its continuous development of clinical guidelines, practice standards, and adjudication review for cell based medical therapies.

The newly formed ICMS Medical Advisory Board comprised of physicians from major academic institutions, hospitals and private practices from around the globe. “The goal of the Medical Board,” said David Audley, Executive Director of the ICMS, “Is to work to make certain that the guidelines and practice standards of the ICMS ensure patient safety through peer oversight and transparency.”

One of the most important functions of the Medical Advisory Board will be to oversee the Clinic Accreditation Process that the ICMS announced earlier this week. Members of the Medical Advisory Board will review the protocols and evaluate the patient outcome data from clinics seeking accreditation. “With the proliferation of clinics worldwide,” said Dr Keith March, MD, PhD, a member of the Medical Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the ICMS, “The need to have strict standards and independent review of practices for stem cell clinics is critical.”

A detailed list of the members of the Medical Advisory Board can be found on the ICMS website.