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The unproven stem cell clinic StemGenex appears to now be called Advanced Cell Medicine.

StemGenex is facing a proposed class action lawsuit by patients and it also recently received an FDA warning letter.

StemGenex is notable too in that it seemed to be considering taking some extreme action against perceived critic websites including potentially the California Stem Cell Agency, CIRM.

Could it be trying to put some of the past behind it?

A reader of The Niche tipped me off in the comments recently that StemGenex may have reincarnated itself as a new company going by the name Advanced Cell Medicine.

After looking at Advanced Cell Medicine’s website, I think he’s right.

Why?

For one thing, some of the top personnel appear to be the same.

For instance, BJ Retuya, who was the Managing Director of StemGenex now lists no reference to that company on his LinkedIn page. Instead it says he’s been in leadership at Advanced Cell Medicine for quite some time. The dozen or so people on LinkedIn listed as personnel of the “new” company include other key StemGenex folks such as Rita Alexander. Several of these people even still list StemGenex as their current employer. These include someone named Holly Bergen (see screenshot above).

So it sure seems StemGenex has a new name.

What about the doctors from StemGenex? Are they at the renamed company?

I don’t see any physicians listed on the Advanced Cell Medicine website.

There is also no listing under that company name that I could find using the California Secretary of State business search tool. So it’s hard to say, but probable that it has the same docs.

What does this renaming mean for the company and the ongoing lawsuit? I hope we can figure that out soon.

More broadly, it’s an indicator that unproven stem cell clinics may be changing business names every few years for various reasons. This makes it harder to track this complicated industry and its associated risks.

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