Why we do not offer stem cell infusions

We are asked about stem cell infusions most weeks, usually by people who have been offered them elsewhere at a price between eight and thirty thousand francs. The answer has not changed since the clinic opened.

The evidence position

Autologous and allogeneic cell therapies have genuine, licensed indications — haematological malignancy chief among them. Outside those indications, the published human data in healthy or ageing adults consists largely of small, uncontrolled, industry-adjacent series with short follow-up and heterogeneous preparations. There is no randomised outcome evidence supporting infusion for general ageing, fatigue, or joint pain of unclear origin.

That is not a statement that the field is worthless. It is a statement that the field is not ready to be sold, and that the gap between the laboratory literature and the clinic offering is currently very wide.

The regulatory position

In Switzerland, cell-based preparations fall under the Therapeutic Products Act and require authorisation from Swissmedic. Clinics offering these treatments frequently do so abroad, or under a legal construction that places the risk on the patient. We are not comfortable with either, and neither is our insurer.

What we say instead

When someone arrives having already paid for an infusion, we do not lecture. We measure what can be measured, we document it, and we agree what would count as evidence of benefit. So far nobody has come back with a marker that moved.