[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Japanese authorities have ordered an emergency suspension of regenerative medicine treatments at a Tokyo clinic connected to Nature Cell after a South Korean patient died during stem cell therapy.
According to medical industry sources on March 14, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued a temporary halt order to Neopolis Clinic Ginza in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward under the country’s regenerative medicine safety law.
The clinic administered an intravenous injection of stem cells cultured from the patient’s own fat cells to a South Korean woman in her 60s who traveled to Japan on March 10 for chronic pain treatment. During the procedure, the patient’s condition suddenly worsened and she went into cardiac arrest while being transported by ambulance. She was later pronounced dead, and authorities are investigating the cause.
Japanese officials said the cells used in the treatment were produced at the JASC Kyoto Stem Cell Culture Center in Kyoto and the R Bio facility in South Korea. The ministry ordered the Kyoto center to stop manufacturing and asked the Korean facility to halt cell supplies to Japan.
Nature Cell stated that the patient suffered a severe fall during transport that caused a cervical spine fracture, adding that the stem cells themselves had passed quality tests. The exact cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
The incident has also drawn scrutiny in South Korea. The Ministry of Health and Welfare previously said the overseas stem cell treatment program could potentially violate the Medical Service Act if patient recruitment or cell collection occurred domestically.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
