The discovery that adult cells could be ‘reprogrammed’ and converted into stem cells caused a great deal of excitement among scientists. There are high hopes that this new technology will help us study, understand and eventually treat disease. But researchers still face a number of challenges, as shown by several recent studies.

Stem cell therapy is moving steadily toward worldwide clinical application for a broad range of inherited and acquired diseases. In countries where biomedical research progress is both widely publicised and tightly regulated, it is understandable for those who stand to benefit from the regenerative potential of stem cell therapies to seek more rapid access to treatments. This situation is conducive to practitioners operating under lax regulatory conditions offering treatment to patients travelling from overseas. Indeed, there is good evidence that stem cell therapies are an important driver of medical tourism and good reason to believe that some patients who travel for stem cell therapy are receiving ineffective or harmful interventions.