There’s the batmobile for Batman, right, but what about a stem-cell-mobile?

Every so often someone sends me some wild new stem cell clinic thing that they’ve seen that is both real and almost unbelievable at the same time.

The latest is a mobile stem cell “clinic” business called RegenMed of Florida, which is what I’m calling the “stem-cell-mobile”.

There isn’t much info on this company on the web including on their homepage, but I did find their Facebook page and a picture of what seems to be the stem cell clinic on wheels. I’m guessing this thing cost more than $100K. Maybe $200K if they did it to extremely careful clinical specifications.

It seems to me that the stem-cell-mobile serves a second purpose as a mobile stem cell advertising billboard too based on how it looks.

I’m not making any statements about the claims of this business one way or another at this point (and actually the claims on the web seem pretty vague anyway), but I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my stem cell editorial cartoons from years back because of the mobile nature of this new thing (see below).

The RegenMed of Florida owner appears to be a physician assistant, J David Barr. From the Facebook page and the company homepage, it seems they sell injections of PRP and “stem cells”.

Although in other circumstances physician assistants (PA) who are parts of IND-based clinical trial teams can aid in doing stem cell transplants and can be highly-qualified professional medical care providers involved in stem cell infusions, my opinion is that a PA shouldn’t be giving stem cell transplants independently. I feel the same way about chiropractors too as they aren’t trained the same way as MDs and DOs where there is such a heavy emphasis on cell biological mechanisms related to medicine. Does the stem cell on wheels firm have a physician overseeing all of what it is doing? If so, I couldn’t find out who.

Also, no specific type of stem cells is mentioned by this firm that I could see. Living amniotic stem cells? “Dead” reconstituted powder? Something else? Maybe the stem cells in question here are non-FDA approved, which if correct would just up the risk further. In my view, the mobile stem cell clinic nature of this could push risks up yet even further related to sterility or other issues.

From the RegenMed of Florida website:

“Through David’s years of treating joint disfunction (sic), he understands the intricacies of pain and its negative effects on the lives of those it touches. He has been relieving the joint pain of his patients in a formal office setting and is now offering his services in a mobile setting for those who don’t want to travel far and wide to seek joint pain relief. RegenMed of Florida travels to communities across the Tampa Bay area offering no cost consultations to help patients decide if a minimally invasive, non-opioid joint pain relief treatment plan is right for them.”

As I’ve written before, the idea of stem cells for pain right now mostly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I’m not a pain specialist. If you can make a joint healthier then there’s probably going to be less pain, but I’m just not convinced specific kinds of stem cells have been proven to do that. It sure seems like clinics are trying to capitalize on this idea big time based on advertising. Some are really into the idea of stem cells as an alternative to opioids as well.

Overall, I’m not a big fan of the stem-cell-mobile idea.

Over the years, some other businesses have even sold “stem cells” as a standalone product to patients who are then supposed to self-inject, which seems like a really bad idea to me.

What’s next, Uber expands from Uber Eats to Uber Stem Cells?

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