The FDA has taken another action against a manufacturer of stem cell cosmetics in the form of anti-aging creams with a warning letter sent on April 20, 2016 to Crescent Health Center, Inc.
The FDA noted a number of issues in the warning letter that it termed “serious violations”, but the biggest issue was that the agency defined the anti-aging creams as unapproved drugs. The stem cell cosmetics in question are called “Ageless Derma Stem Cell and Peptide Anti-Wrinkle Cream” and “Ageless Derma Anti-Aging Intensive Skin Brightener Cream”. The letter was addressed to Dr. Farid A. Mostamand, CEO.
In the past the FDA similarly warned L’Oreal/Lancome over its stem cell cosmetics products and another cream maker in 2014. However, as I noted recently you can get all kinds of similar “stem cell” cosmetic products with sky-high prices still these days at Nordstrom or elsewhere such as on E-bay or Amazon.
Update. I had originally written, “I found the Ageless Derma Stem Cell and Peptide Anti-Wrinkle Cream listed (image above), as offered by “Dr. Mostamand”, but now as of the same evening I wrote this post, this product seems to have disappeared from Amazon. In fact there are no products listed anymore for “Dr. Mostamand” on Amazon that I can see.
The FDA noted a number of medical claims on the company’s websites including the following domains: www.skinbeautymall.com, www.agelessderma.com, and www.drskinspa.com.
This is a positive step by the FDA, but frankly there are countless other similar stem cell anti-aging creams products and companies out there so the agency needs to take more systematic action if it is going to pursue this. Warning one or two stem cell cream makers every few years is a real drop in the cosmetic bucket. What’s the rationale and fairness for warning one but not all the others?
Further, what about the very large and growing number of stem cell clinics injecting unapproved human “stem cell” drug products into patients’ bodies, and making unsupported medical claims about those far riskier procedures compared to the creams?
Why isn’t the FDA doing more on that front?
It should be noted that the different FDA Centers and offices each oversee products and can take actions. In the case of Crescent Health Center, it was the Los Angeles FDA office that sent the letter. Given that there are tons of stem cell clinics in the LA greater metro area including Beverly Hills, what action is that LA FDA office going to take (if anything) about those? If nothing, why not?
More broadly across America the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) is most responsible for oversight of stem cells. While they did recently warn a string of three stem cell clinics, over the years CBER actions have been inconsistent and rare. They have dropped the ball on oversight of stem cell clinics, which is a real shame and has put thousands of patients at risk as well as risking harm to the whole stem cell field. Are they lacking the budget to handle a mushrooming stem cell clinic industry? Waiting to finalize their 4 recent stem cell-related draft guidances maybe ten years from now? Afraid of being sued by stem cell clinics?
Beats me.
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