BackNMC warns doctors not to use stem cell therapy for people with autism
NMC officials said that none of the current international guidelines or studies recommend stem cell therapy for the autistic
PremiumNEW DELHI : The National Medical Commission (NMC) has directed doctors not to use stem cell therapy for treating autism, citing insufficient evidence and lack of efficacy.
NMC officials said that none of the current international guidelines or studies recommend stem cell therapy for the autistic. It warned doctors that if they use such treatment for autism, even for promotion and advertisement, it will be considered as professional misconduct and strict action will be taken against them.
Stem cell therapy is an expensive treatment procedure which is currently used for blood cancer patients and other haematologic disorders to repair cells and tissues.
As per WHO, the prevalence of autism in India is estimated to be around 1-2 per 1,000 children and about 3 times more common in boys.
“These recommendations are in response to the court case where the court wanted us to constitute a committee and give recommendation whether stem cell procedure should be used in autism or not because its use has become very frequent despite the fact that we don’t have so much of scientific evidence for use of stem of therapy in autism treatment. That’s why NMC has come up with these recommendations," Yogendra Malik, Member Ethics and Medical Registration Board of NMC said.
“Many experts in the field have noted prevailing unethical practice of offering SCT as a treatment for ASD (autism spectrum disorder). Further, they have expressed concern and warned about indiscriminate promotion and predatory marketing of stem cell therapies in ASD leading to creation of false hopes, unrealistic expectations, and exploitation of the affected population and their families," said the NMC official in his recommendation note to doctors.
“Currently, stem cell therapy is not recommended as a treatment for ASD in clinical practice. Its promotion and advertisement will be considered as professional misconduct. Further research needs to be conducted and encouraged in terms of well-designed double-blind randomized control trial (RCT) to explore the safety and efficacy of stem cell therapy in autism spectrum disorder," said the official adding that international guidelines, including ICMR guidelines have concluded that there is insufficient evidence and call for more high-quality research."
There is no “cure" for ASD. Parent and caregiver education and counselling are the first step, so that it helps them to understand, accept and cope with their child’s problem and also learn how to be part of home-based parent-mediated intervention.
According to NMC, the largest well-designed double-blind randomised placebo-controlled study of stem cell therapy in autism patients was conducted by Geraldine Dawson, an American child clinical psychologist in 2020. ln this study of 180 children with autism, stem cell therapy was given to 119 children with ASD, with 61 controls. At the end of six months, there was no difference between cases and controls on any of the primary outcome measures.
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