Vietnamese spend large sums of money abroad for stem cell therapy

Research and application development

The conference on solutions and development orientations for research and application of cell therapy and cell products in Vietnam was held by the Ministry of Health today, December 6, in Hanoi.

At the conference, Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Training (Ministry of Health), said that in Vietnam, cell therapy, especially stem cell therapy, is still spontaneous, and many medical facilities do not apply it according to regulations. In particular, many advertisements are not scientifically verified, which can cause consequences for people or have unclear effects, causing costs.

Người Việt chi tiền lớn ra nước ngoài điều trị bằng liệu pháp tế bào gốc - Ảnh 1. — Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang affirmed that the application of cell therapy and cell products is strictly managed but still encourages research.

"Many people in Vietnam have gone to neighboring countries to spend large sums of money on stem cell therapy. We also hear many people ask, 'Other countries treat stem cell therapy freely and freely, but why is the Ministry of Health so tightly regulated?'" Mr. Quang shared.

Answering the above question, the Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Training said: "We have been to countries, worked with management agencies and learned that countries manage very strictly, ensuring scientific principles, not freely as many people understand."

Countries like Japan, the US, and Europe all consider cell therapy to be risky for humans and classify the risk levels of cell therapy. Regulatory agencies all stipulate that this is a new method, a new technique, and needs to be reviewed and evaluated by the Biomedical Research Ethics Council to make research requirements.

The research process must have an assessment of safety and effectiveness. Once applied, it still needs to be evaluated after application, so that the management agency can consider approving continued implementation or stopping it.

"We are particularly interested in the final product of cell technology, in terms of safety and effectiveness," Mr. Quang emphasized.

The Government assigns the Ministry of Health to supervise biomedical research on humans, ensuring human rights.

The Ministry of Health is in the process of completing the legal document system to complete regulations on research, clinical trials and application of cell therapies in treatment and health care for people.

Regulations must ensure the principle of encouraging scientific and technological development in people's health care, but not spontaneously and must be safe and effective.

New technology is applied to help people have better health, more effectively, but it needs a legal corridor, especially scientific evidence and effectiveness.

Dr. Nguyen Ngo Quang

Stem cells: medicine or technical procedure?

With many years of experience in researching cell technology and cell immunotherapy, Professor Ta Thanh Van, Head of the 10-nation KC Program, said that countries are still arguing about stem cells, because current treatment applications have different effects.

Người Việt chi tiền lớn ra nước ngoài điều trị bằng liệu pháp tế bào gốc - Ảnh 3. — Stem cell transfusion to treat blood diseases at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion

The reason is that we treat individuals and the effectiveness of treatment depends on the quality of each individual's cells. Except for stem cell transplantation in the treatment of blood diseases, which has had clear effects.

That reality shows the need for legal regulations on cell therapy so as not to hinder development but not to abuse it and cause waste.

In particular, Professor Van said that it is necessary to clarify whether "stem cells are a product or a technical process" for management in the process of applying treatment and health care.

Stem cells are not medicine, but neither is the technical process. Because to some extent, stem cells are medicine when they create cell products that are infused into the same species.

In the case of isolating human stem cells to infuse them into that same individual, that is the process.

In the face of the fact that the distinction between drugs and technical processes is not yet clear with cell therapy, including stem cell applications, Professor Ta Thanh Van noted that the inspection of stem cell preparations is necessary. In the country, the Ministry of Health needs to have criteria for the quality of cell blocks, stem cells and establish reference laboratories and external inspection.

Cell production units must first declare quality, based on standards issued by the Ministry of Health.

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