Why the Stanford trial deserves more attention?

On June 2nd 2016, CBS SF Bay Area reported that a team led by Dr Gary Steinberg achieved a major breakthrough in treating stroke with stem cells.

A lady who had suffered a severe stroke 5 years before recovered her speech and mobility functions after the treatment.

Here is the video. 





On June 5th, Fox5NY reported on the same topic.

To understand how significant this is, let's dive into the details.

Who is Dr Gary Steinberg?

According to the Stanford website, Dr Steinberg is the Chair of Neurosurgery, Director of the Stanford Moyamoya Center, and the founder and co-director of the Stanford Stroke Center.

Dr Gary Steinberg

What about embryonic stem cell?
Steinberg uses stem cells derived from the bone marrow donated by 2 adults. There is no embryonic stem cell involved.

Who is Dr Devi Nampiaparampil?
In the Foxnews interview, Dr Devi Nampiaparampil (Dr Devi) confirmed the results. 



According to Wikipedia, Dr Devi is a Harvard trained associate professor at NYU Medical school.

Dr Devi Nampiaparampil

A significant part of Dr Devi's career is dedicated to treating brain and neurological injuries.

How is the breakthrough achieved?
By accident.

Let's hear how Dr Devi describes it.

Keep in mind that the most noteworthy medical breakthroughs, including vaccination and penicillin were results of accidents.

What about frauds?

It is true that stem cell therapies are fraught with frauds.

For example, CBS 60 Minutes reported this:

It is not hard to see the contrast:

1. In the CBS 60 Minutes report, we see a doctor whose license had been revoked, who subsequently moved his entire practice outside the US. On the contrary, in the Stanford report, we see a leading medical scientist going through a rigorous FDA process supported by a renowned biotech company, SanBio.
2. In the alleged fraud, the quack doctor's approach was quickly deciphered and discredited by Duke University. On the other hand, Dr Steinberg received clear endorsements by his fellow researcher in another leading medical school.

Dr Steinberg's experiment has been mentioned by other news agencies. 

For example, on Aug 19, 2016, Roanoke Times mentioned the Stanford breakthrough.

How much interest have both videos aroused?

The breakthrough has not got much excitement in the stroke community. Not a single association mentioned it on their websites. More important, the videos have not got much attention.

Let's take a look at how many views CBS and Foxnews reports have got.

This is the CBS video posted on YouTube.

This is how many views Fox has received.

By contrast, a BBC documentary "The Truth About Acolhol" posted just 1 week earlier, has got 242K views on YouTube. About 34 times more!

What did history tell us?
There was no reliable treatment for pneumonia until penicillin was adopted by clinics in 1943.

Penicillin was discovered by accident by Sir Flemming Alexander in 1927. 

Sir Flemming Alexander won Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945

It took 16 years before Pneumonia was no longer considered incurable.

The significance of this discovery by Dr Steinberg is no less than penicillin.  

Let's hope this time, the process will not take 16 years. 

What can we do as survivors?