Key facts
- Clinics in the US are administering unapproved stem cell treatments to autistic children, some as young as 18 months.
- These treatments, costing up to $20,000 each, are promoted with promises of improved speech, socialization, and behavior, but lack scientific evidence.
- The FDA cautions that such treatments outside approved clinical trials are likely illegal and potentially harmful, citing risks like blindness and tumor formation.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly supported alternative health providers and advocates for stem cell infusions for autism.
- An upcoming experiment in Mexico, involving 120 autistic children, is being organized by Tracy Slepcevic, who has ties to stem cell providers and a federal autism committee.
- A Miami-based company, Better Stem, is marketing these treatments under the "right-to-try" law, which experts say is misapplied to autism.
Clinics across the United States are offering unapproved and unproven stem cell treatments to autistic children, with scientists expressing concern over the proliferation of these therapies. These procedures, which can cost up to $20,000 each, involve injecting children with human stem cells, often derived from umbilical cords, with promises of improving speech, social skills, and behavior.
Despite these claims, there is no scientific evidence to support the efficacy of these treatments for autism. A comprehensive placebo-controlled trial conducted by Duke University found insignificant benefits for most of the 180 children involved. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directly warns parents that treatments offered outside of approved clinical trials are likely illegal and deceptive, and can carry significant risks, including blindness, tumor formation, and infections.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who served as the health secretary within the Trump administration, has been identified as actively encouraging these alternative health providers. He has appeared via video link at summits organized by Autism Health, a leading advocate for stem cell infusions, and has promised to work with stem cell providers to "drive solutions together." Kennedy also appointed Tracy Slepcevic, a proponent of alternative therapies and organizer of these summits, to a federal committee guiding autism research.
Slepcevic is planning a new experiment involving 120 autistic children in partnership with a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, which has a more lenient regulatory approach to stem cell treatments. Ed Clay, founder of the Cellular Performance Institute in Tijuana, stated his company's clinical trial will be free to families and fully licensed. Meanwhile, other providers, such as Miami-based Better Stem, are marketing these infusions, claiming compliance with the "right-to-try" law, a statute experts clarify is not applicable to non-life-threatening conditions like autism.
Parents, like Taylor whose four-year-old son Ollie is receiving an infusion, are investing significant sums, often raised through donations, in the hope of improving their children's quality of life, despite familial and expert skepticism.