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Illegal stem cell operation |
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Written by Rebekkah Laeuchli
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Wednesday, 05 August 2009 |
Four people were arrested last Monday on suspicion of giving illegal stem cell treatments at a cost of USD 25,000 (HUF 5 million) per procedure. They were apprehended while preparing to implant a patient with stem cells at a Budapest clinic, according to police.
The suspects have been identified as Ukrainian-American medical professor Yuliy Baltaytis, plastic surgeon István Seffer, and a Ukrainian biologist known as Natalia K. A company called Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM) ,based in Kaposvár, was responsible for the treatments and CEO of the company Sándor Szabó is the fourth detainee, according to MTI. IRM rented space from Seffer & Renner clinic, said Tibor Seffer, managing director of the clinic and brother of István Seffer. He added that the IRM laboratory was separate and the Seffer clinic had nothing to do with stem cell research.
Aborted foetuses
According to the police statement, the Ukrainian biologist is suspected of obtaining the stem cells from aborted foetuses, which the American then implanted in patients by injection or infusion. IRM was granted a license to store but not implant stem cells by the Hungarian authorities in 2007, which was revoked in February 2008.
Head of the organised crime department at the National Bureau of Investigations (NNI) Gábor Bucsek said an investigation has been ongoing since last December, culminating in last week's arrest. Bucsek added that the circle of suspects could grow, as the treatments were apparently carried out not just in Budapest and Kaposvár but in other locations around the country. Police say IRM even carried out illegal treatments in hotel rooms and private homes.
Police have not said where the patients were from. The total number of patients is still uncertain, but M1’s Hirado reported that children were also among those treated. A thirty-six year old woman, Mónika Major, came forward in an interview with Blikk, saying she wanted the procedure for her four-year-old daughter Fruzsina, but could not afford the fee. She said Seffer then offered a trial treatment free of charge but the doctors never contacted her again.
No licence in Hungary
Baltaytis told Magyar Hírlap that he had practised his methods successfully in other parts of the world but failed to obtain a licence in Hungary. According to a report by Népszabadság, Baltaytis had previously run a stem cell clinic in Barbados. The clinic was shut down in 2007 after the BBC reported the stem cells used were procured on the black market.
IRM board director Imre Pákh was said to have been involved in the Barbados clinic, though lawyer Krisztina Nagy representing both Pákh and other board director Ádám Fásy said neither were aware of the Kaposvár laboratory's activities.
Cells’ potential
Embryonic stem cells can develop into any type of cell in the body but their use in treatment of disease has provoked much debate over ethical concerns, as they are harvested from several-day old embryos, usually left over from In vitro fertilizations.
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