Texas CEO Magazine November|December 2014 | Page 12

commentary

DEPT

by Maude L. Cuchiara and Kirstin R.W. Matthews

PROFESSIONAL
ATHLETES AND
UNPROVEN
STEM CELL
TREATMENTS
Causing Harm
to the Public

Over the past five years, several prominent
athletes have been in the news touting their
speedy recovery from injuries and attributing it to therapies using stem cells. Despite
the support of professional athletes, these
types of stem cell treatments have not been
validated in clinical trials for accurate dosing
and efficacy. Furthermore, clinics actively
and aggressively promote these therapies in
a way that implies clinical benefit though
aside from patient testimonials, they do not
have robust data to support their claims.
The continuance of these types of therapies
by for-profit clinics and endorsement by

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well-known professional athletes has the
potential to influence the public’s perception
of the safety and efficacy of the treatments.
Since they have not been proven to work
through the traditional US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) approval of clinical
trials the impact on medicine could be high.
Prominent athletes who have received
stem treatments for orthopedic injuries
include National Football League (NFL)
stars Peyton Manning, who is still playing
and led his Broncos team to the Superbowl
in 2014, and Terrell Owens, who has since
retired. Bartolo Colón, a major league

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baseball pitcher, also received stem cell
therapy in 2010 and afterwards became a
starting pitcher for the New York Yankees
despite missing several seasons due to elbow
and shoulder injuries. After Manning and
Colón’s treatments, articles were published
by the mainstream media debating whether
or not they were “performance enhancing” and effective. These three athletes all
received treatments outside of the US, but
several professional athletes have attended
clinics in the United States as well. It is difficult to know how widespread these treatments are among athletes, however, because