‘Exercise caution with trial stem cell therapies’

PETALING JAYA: Be cautious of experimental stem cell therapies that do not adhere to mainstream science, warns Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said the therapy in Malaysia is used for bone marrow transplant in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphoma, as well as for tissue grafts.

“These are areas which we found have given us the strength of science to back the treatments,” he said.

“Apart from that, all other stem cell therapies are experimental.”

He said that if an experimental stem cell therapy led to severe consequences, the case could be brought to the attention of the Malaysian Medical Council, if the practitioner is a doctor.

Dr Subramaniam also said that the Human Tissues Act 1974 may have to be amended to take into consideration current developments in stem cell research.

“We don’t want to put regulations which can restrict the development of science but at the same time, the regulations should be able to protect people,” he said at the CambridgeOxfordSunway Biomedical Symposium yesterday.

He said there were those who were interested to turn stem cell research into a profitable business venture but he pointed out that commercial interests should not override ethical aspects.

Dr Subramaniam was at the symposium, attended by Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, to announce that Sunway Clinical Research Centre will now be the world’s first Cambridgelinked clinical research centre.

Researchers there are from several notable institutions and will be focusing on the prevention, earlier diagnosis, and improved treatments for a range of diseases.