Those of you who have followed this blog since its start in August of 2009 will remember its main purpose was to chronicle everything involved in my stem cell therapy at the XCell Clinic in Cologne, Germany in September of that same year. I started out very hopeful the treatment might result in a reversal or even a cessation of the symptoms associated with this nasty disease.
As it turned out, the treatment had little, if any, positive impact on my condition. As time went by after the treatment, I became more critical of the clinic’s operating methods, especially their patient follow-up procedures, which in my case consisted of one automated Christmas card and one, poorly worded questionnaire asking about my post visit condition. I quickly lost confidence in the accuracy of the survey when I realized that XCell listed me suffering from Multiple Sclerosis rather than MSA. I wrote and corrected them but never received an acknowledgment.
By now, most readers know XCell has closed their doors and filed for bankruptcy. I thought I had heard the last from them until a few weeks ago when I received an email message from one of the doctors who claimed he was a founder of XCell. He intimated that the problem was just a misunde standing between the German Health Dept and XCell which would be resolved soon.
Rather than wait for this resolution to take place, this doctor proudly stated the remnants of XCell had joined a clinic in the Bangkok, Thailand area and would resume stem cell therapy procedure there.
I’ve concluded there must be a fortune to be made in “medical tourism” particularly stem cell therapy. Why else would XCell resurface so quickly in a location where regulations seem lax and medical oversight appears less strict than Europe?
ADDED 3/11/12: I just found the original e-mail, dated Nov 2011, from Dr. C. Kleinbloesem who claimed to be XCell's last CEO and falsely maligned Medical Director, who was wrongly forced out of office.
His "dedication" to the field of stem cell therapy has led him to form a new organization, Cells4health GmbH which has set up shop in Beirut, Lebanon, where their website: www.cells4health.com looks remarkably like XCell's - right down to the same prices.
I guess the "Business climate" is less restrictive in Lebanon.
