The proposed Texas rules would allow doctors to bypass the FDA so long as they satisfy other conditions before offering certain experimental adult stem-cell treatments, including obtaining patient consent and securing approval from an independent review board.
A Texas agency will vote Friday on whether to enact new rules that would make it easier for doctors to offer experimental treatments using adult stem cells without federal approval.
The Texas Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors in the state, recently drafted stem-cell rules at the behest of Stanley Jones, of Houston, the doctor who in July injected Gov. Rick Perry with the governor's own stem cells to try to aid his recovery from a back injury.
The governor, who appoints all the members of the Medical Board, has encouraged the agency to create rules governing adult stem-cell treatments, which involve removing a patient's stem cells and reinserting them in the hopes of aiding muscle, nerve or blood cells damaged by such conditions as cancer, osteoarthritis or multiple sclerosis.
Read more: Fox News
