Stem cell treatment: another falsification
Italian patent for stem cell treatment obtained fraudulently
Thus, the patent obtained by the entrepreneur must be considered invalid, and the treatment method must be unproven.
Last year, the Italian society was divided into two camps – the first supported the medical entrepreneur Vannoni, who applied for patenting his own method of treating diseases of the nervous system with stem cells. Opponents of Vannoni were many scientists who said that this method of treatment has not yet confirmed its effectiveness. Moreover, the scientists called on the government of the country to abandon the clinical trial, which, under public pressure, was planned to be conducted in support of Vannoni's patent. The study was supposed to start in May this year and would have cost the government 3 million euros.
The technique patented by Vannoni is the isolation of stem cells from the patient's bone marrow and manipulation with them in vitro, as a result of which the stem cell turns into a full-fledged neuron. After that, new neurons are injected back into the patient. Vannoni carefully concealed a more detailed description of the manipulations – it was not even indicated in the request for a patent. The problem is that only blood, skin or cartilage cells can be grown from bone marrow stem cells, but not neurons. Nevertheless, Vannoni insists that he did it.
An investigation by Nature confirms that the key photos of Vannoni's study – images of two neurons allegedly developed from bone marrow stem cells – are not his original photos. According to experts, these photos are absolutely identical to the photos published in the work of Russian and Ukrainian researchers in 2003 (Schegel'skaya, E. A. et al. Russian J. Dev. Biol. 34, 185-191). The authors of the article confirmed this fact. The results of the Nature investigation did not surprise Vannoni's opponents. The Director General of the Italian Agency for Medicine (Italian Medicines Agency) said that agency inspectors who came to Vannoni's laboratory in May 2012 doubted that safe stem cells could be created in such conditions. The laboratory was in chaos, and the staff could not even provide the inspectors with the protocols according to which they work.
The clinical trials planned by the government have been canceled. Currently, the issue of patients who have signed consent to participate in it is being resolved. There are more than 100 such people, their diagnoses range from Parkinson's disease to motor neuron pathology. Each of these desperate people believed that they had a chance to heal thanks to Vannoni's patented treatment method. Now the authorities need to explain to people that their hopes were in vain. The author of the patent is still hiding from the press and the authorities.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru04.07.2013