Celltex

[ehd42]

Hi TxRR
It is unfortunate that you took my post personally since it was not aimed at you but it was meant to address the content of your post. After reading your most recent post I realized that others might not be familiar with the scientific methodology employed in producing a safe and effective therapy for human administration and some might interpret your post as offering hope that a legitimate and proven effective treatment for ALS is currently available from Celltex.
Instead of presenting scientific evidence to support Dr. Jones assertions and claims, your post again presents only hearsay and anecdotes.
My intent was and is to apply a critical analysis to your post in order to get at the truth of the matter. There is no point in rehashing the analysis I provided in my previous post since it was based on knowledge and critical thinking, which is the only way you get to the truth of a matter.
Celltex still has not provided scientific evidence (approved rigorously conducted clinical trials) proving that their stem cell treatment is effective in ALS; therefore, a thoughtful and well-informed person should not take such a treatment seriously. By the way the only reason that the FDA exists is to protect the American public from false claims by those who would pedal ineffective and/or harmful treatment to hopeful patients. In my opinion, a company that cannot meet the FDA's high standards does not deserve to be taken seriously. I'm surprised that you did not mention the FDA’s letter to Celltex that was provided as a web link in my previous post since it is highly relevant to this discussion. By the way, an intrathecal injection is given via a lumbar puncture and doesn't require cracking open the spine and it is still likely to be the best and most efficient way to get millions of stem cells to the brain. You might find the following website of value when considering the rationale behind the need for clinical trials in medicine:

What Makes A Well Controlled Clinical Trial?


Finally, I would be remiss as a member of this forum of not trying my best to contribute a high level of accurate information whenever I can in order to support my fellow forum members.

Best wishes,

Eliot

 

[IhavePLS]

TxRR, I am a lifelong disease management professional. Beyond building programs for people with comorbid physical and behavioral health disorders (yes, even ALS and Major Depressive Disorder), I have also done healthcare outcomes research. None of that makes me expert in stem-cell treatment, but it has taught me that evidence-based medicine -- i.e., medical practices and medical decisions that are driven by hard data and decision rules that are founded only in experiential evidence -- is a requirement for medical efficacy.

I did not interpret Eliot's response to you as a personal affront at all; indeed, it was instead a wholly objective denial of Dr. Jones' medical assertions -- assertions that are not evidence-based. You took Eliot's response as a personal affront, because you did not agree with (or like) his refutation. ALS -- in all its forms - - is misery for those of us who have it; it is misery for those who love and care for us, and it is misery for those who have lost loved ones to it. If Dr. Jones' had any integrity, he would be more clear that his approach is sheer experimentation -- it is certainly not evidence-based. That you don't like the facts that counter your position and/or that you don't agree does not change those facts as they are.

To say all of this more informally, Dr. Jones' should be ashamed of himself. But he is not --and this why he's off to Mexico. Another good reason to build that border wall.

Mike