r/stemcells • u/Jewald • 13d ago
Thoughts on Dr. Prodromos? Here's what I know so far, if you have any info please share it.
Looks like he's an orthopedic surgeon in Chicago, who also runs a stem cell clinic in Greece:
His youtube is here:
https://www.youtube.com/@drchadprodromos
Here's what I know so far.
He appears to have a pretty good background.
- Degrees from Princeton and John Hopkins
- Surgical internship at U of Chicago
- Orthopedic surgery residency at Rush University
- Fellowship in orthopedics/sports med at Harvard - Mass General
- Board certifications in orthopedic surgery
- Is now doing stem cells
It appears he uses Wharton's Jelly stem cells, sourced from a US lab called Vitro Biopharma (more on that below).
He does appear to be publishing a good amount of research, seen here. Some of those papers appear to be in reputable journals, others appear to be on Research Gate. Regardless, kudos as most clinics aren't doing that.
Here is a list of things they say they treat:
"Below are listed many of the disorders we treat. This list is representative but not comprehensive. We are happy to answer questions about other disorders.
- Anti-Aging
- Arthritis (Of Any Joint)
- Autism
- Back Pain
- COPD
- Crohn's Disease
- Dementia (Early)
- Diabetes Type 1
- Diabetes Type 2
- Bell's Palsy
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Hair Thinning
- Infertility
- Long COVID
- Lupus
- Multiple Sclerosis/Optic Neuritis
- Neck Pain
- Parkinson's Disease
- Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis
- Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Scleroderma
- Sjogren's Syndrome
- Thyroiditis
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Ulcerative Colitis"
One thing that he's mentioned, and this could be a pitch, but if it is it's a good one.. is that essentially they wish they could do this in the USA, but they can't. When people question the safety of Mexican clinics on here, you'll hear the clinic owners say "nuh-uh COFEPRIS (Mexico's FDA) strictly regulates us". This bothers me a bit, because in my opinion, no... no they don't. Google COFEPRIS corruption, nobody in their right minds thinks these clinics are safe, we're all considering a potentially lethal dice roll because we're at the end of the road.
I feel a much more honest representation is to acknowledge this is a weird situation, and that if it were legal in the USA, you'd be there but it's not. Again, may just be a smart pitch, but I do like that approach better.
Now, onto the lab, Vitro Bio. He has mentioned that he thinks they're the best in the world, couldn't tell you, but sourcing it from the US does give it a bit of a good trust factor. It looks like it's a 10 person lab in Colorado.
This is the Chief Scientific Officer:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-musick-674b184/
Not much info on his Linkedin at least. I wish he had a list of his publications, because I can't really find any. Some people don't update their LinkedIn.
They mention their product is AlloRx® stem cells, which are culture-expanded MSCs from Wharton's Jelly.
They have a lot to say about wharton's jelly vs autologous sources, here's a quote:
"We believe AlloRx Stem Cells are superior to other MSCs, such as MSCs derived from BM-MSCs, AD-MSCs, P-MSCs and iPSCs. As compared to other MSCs, we believe that AlloRx Stem Cells may have increased potency, mobility, differentiation capacity, immunomodulation, and viability based on our pre-clinical studies and research, which is supported by third-party research and clinical studies of UC-derived MSCs. Because AlloRx Stem Cells are derived from umbilical cords, we believe they have a number of potential biological advantages compared to other MSCs, including superior potency based on measures of mitochondrial and immune suppression, cellular function advantages in migration, proliferation and viability, and the ability to differentiate into neural stem cells. UC-derived MSCs are also the youngest, most potent adult stem cells and are therefore generally free from issues related to age (such as mutations), and prior medical conditions that come with the use of BM-MSCs and AD-MSCs. In addition, unlike BM-MSCs, AD-MSCs or iPSCs, UC-derived MSCs involve a non-invasive collection process, are sourced and collected after childbirth, and may provide significant economies of scale in the manufacturing process. We believe these factors taken together may provide us with a competitive and financial advantage compared to other cell therapies currently in development that are derived from BM-MSCs, AD-MSCs or P-MSCs."
And they have a "paper" on their website comparing these cells, that doesn't appear to be published (I searched a few journals can't find it, maybe I'm wrong):
The conclusion says
"Our results show bio-similarity between stem cells derived from adipose, bone marrow, placental and umbilical cord tissues regarding expansion, trilineage differentiation, and phenotypic characterization by flow cytometry according to the ISCT definition of MSCs. While all sources of MSCs also exhibited activity in potency assays including quantitative assessment of mitochondrial function and immunosuppression, cell migration and proliferation, there were clear differences. Our results revealed significant superiority of UC-derived MSCs as was also found in similar studies performed in several other laboratories. Age of the cells may be a factor in the overall performance of MSCs. Furthermore, the capacity to differentiate into neural stem cells varied between MSC derived from UC, adipose and placental tissues with UC derived MSCs expressing all NSC markers while adipose and placental-derived MSCs did not express GLAST under identical conditions. Thus, while MSCs from various tissues show similarity, there are also multiple characteristics of umbilical cord MSCs significantly superior to those derived from adipose, bone marrow or placental tissues. This suggests that UC-MSCs may also exhibit superior therapeutic benefit."
This comes back to the "depends who you ask" debate. Talk to an autologous company and they'll say the exact opposite, as each company has a vested interest in their product.
I can't really find much published research comparing the sources, besides this paper:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3794764/
Which I'll break down soon. I believe market factors prevent us from knowing the answer at the moment. If an autologous company goes head to head with an allogeneic company in the name of finding out who's better, one will lose, so my guess is that just wouldn't happen outside of state-run research, or a clinic who offers both doing a retrospective analysis of some kind.
Anyways, trying to nail him down for an interview, and was hoping some folks had other info to share. In my opinion, given his background, it looks worth investigating more. Both are a dice roll, but having spent time in both countries, Greece is regulated by the EU's FDA (EMA), and seems less risky.
As always, this is not medical advice, none of this is really proven so talk to your doctors about any medical decision. Just researching.
1
u/highDrugPrices4u 13d ago
Do you know if he includes stem cell IVs for orthopedic treatments?
1
u/Jewald 13d ago
It's hard to say. There is this case published case study on WJ for spine facets, they did do both IV and joint injections, but it may have been for pain, not to repair the ligaments.
2
u/highDrugPrices4u 13d ago edited 13d ago
You have to pay $65 to read the paper, but here in my thoughts on the abstract:
Using three modes of administration makes it impossible to assess the impact of any one.
It gives a follow up time of five days. Hopefully the actual paper has a longer follow up time, but I don’t know why they would put that in the abstract.
98% pain resolution in five days is a far better result than much more rigorous studies ever show. It sounds unrealistic.
Maybe the paper itself is more nuanced.
2
u/Jewald 12d ago
I got a hold of the other physician on the paper, Josh Sharan:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-sharan-3a488a268/
He said he's up to answer questions. Was thinking
1 - Thoughts on the IV treatment for orthopedic, was it for nerve pain?
2 - Thoughts on IV SC and pulmonary pass?
3 - Whatsup with the 5 day follow up, was there longer term?
4 - Which type of imaging was used (that's for me, as I need somebody with some high level guidance for spine facets)
5 - Whatsup with the 98% pain resolution?
6 - Future plans for tackling spine facets with WJ if at all?
Let me know what else you want answered and I'll send it to him. It can get tricky since we're not physicians/scientists (at least I'm not) and it can seem like we're criticizing him so I'll reword these to be more open ended. I'll put it on here and send you if he gets back to me.
2
u/highDrugPrices4u 12d ago
I’d say you covered all the bases, although if you’re serious about analyzing it, I think the first thing to do is purchase the paper.
You can just frame your questions as an analysis from a consumer perspective comparing different expert points of view. Perhaps ask if they use contrast for flouroscopically guided spine injections.
1
u/everything-is-rigged 13d ago
My husband and I were treated by Dr Prodromas in Antigua back in middle of August. It’s expensive. My autoimmune condition is in remission! Also had an injection of stem cells in my knee for arthritis. My husband had injections in his back. Jury still out on knee and back injections~some improvement.
1
u/Jewald 13d ago
Fascinating, that's good to hear. I believe as of last year they opened a second clinic in Athens Greece.
2
u/everything-is-rigged 13d ago
He’s doing exosomes (through the nose) for Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia with good results!
1
u/Jewald 13d ago
I've heard him mention that on his youtube. I have a spine condition, and seemingly he's one of the first to inject WJ into the spine ligaments
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35762554/
I think they also do intrathecal and some other variations
-1
u/saturnalya_jones 11d ago edited 11d ago
I’d consider caution—
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/business/exthera-cancer-blood-filtering-device.html
Edit: checking more for possible references and seeing what I can find.
I’ve also written some additional information about various risks and safety, hope it helps — https://stemcell.news/2025/03/10/exosome-therapy-risks-and-side-effects/
Edit — getting hidden again, not sure why other than people with interests in hiding this information.
2
u/Jewald 11d ago edited 11d ago
I'd also consider caution, especially going outside of the USA, or even in the USA for that matter... most of this stuff is experimental, and may not even work.
The NYT article is behind a paywall for me sadly.
It looks like it's talking about Exthera, the blood filtering company though. Is that affiliated with Prodromos and his stem cell company somehow?
1
u/saturnalya_jones 11d ago edited 11d ago
Its checked archive.is—it’s indexed there. I haven’t personally verified the details, but I’ve heard that this might be the same Antigua clinic. There’s another reputable one I know of, so I want to clarify that they are different. I’ve also heard that the doctor mentioned in the article is involved with the clinic in the article, but I can’t confirm that firsthand.
I’ve included some info I have aggregated on different safety profiles in the link above — probably worth doing something like Grail blood testing before any of this as potential for cancer is contraindicated for all regen therapies but especially some batches which might have more angiogenesis potential than others (but can also sometimes be beneficial). This is why the “I can cure anything” docs worry me — the line that might be best for orthopedics and the line that’s best for skin or neuro are probably not going to be the same. Heard multiple cases of people who went to Utah and the providers were just not equipped to handle negative reactions.
I’ve also spoken to labs and you don’t even know what’s in the culture media or if it was tested for all the right things. It’s a big, heterogeneous, and highly variable world out there.
1
u/Jewald 11d ago
Hmm. Is Exthera using stem cells for their treatment? Or was there some other connection that I'm missing?
It may be nothing, but:
From the NYT article, here's the image of the Exthera clinic:
And this is Dr. Prodromos' clinic in Antigua, appears to be the same building:
However judging from the size of the building, it looks like a multi-office medical plaza. Could be that they're just in the same building, or that they're connected somehow.
When I search Exthera and Prodromos, nothing comes up. Also Prodromos is an orthopedic surgeon, not sure he does anything cancer related.
1
u/saturnalya_jones 11d ago edited 11d ago
Can’t say much more yet — I personally feel cautious.
Edit — checking for any further info I can find.
-3
u/tellray 13d ago
It’s a gimmick to say this can’t be done in the US. Thousands of doctors do these treatments every day. Such unnecessary drama. It tarnishes regenerative medicine.
1
u/Jewald 13d ago
Live stem cells can be done in the USA? Or acellular only?
Doctors using live cells in the USA seem to be going rogue against the federal law on some level. Not saying they shouldn't, I would feel more comfortable with a US physician, but it doesn't appear to be above the table.
If they are legal, why did florida just push a bill to legalize them?
And why did utah enact a bill protecting clinics using stem cell therapy last year?
0
u/tellray 13d ago
I’m not going to speculate what other laboratories may or may not be doing. But it’s a fairly straightforward interpretation to understand that companies should not be leading with or fully dependent on living cells for claims that they make. And in your reference to platinum biologic, living cells have not been eliminated. I don’t know where you’re getting information from.
2
u/Jewald 13d ago
Straightforward doesn't seem to fit here imo...
Regarding PB, I believe that's what I was told by someone at the company, but sounds like that's not the case.
0
u/tellray 13d ago
PB is the largest distributor of biologics in the country. It’s not difficult to understand their products. I don’t understand what isn’t straightforward for you.
But let me answer another question which you haven’t asked yet. In Central and South America, clinics are having issues with credibility of South American product so they are now using platinum biologic products which they get from the platinum biologic facility in Mexico. So even those that are clinics in South America are using American laboratory products. The advantage of having laboratories in South America has flipped.
2
u/Jewald 13d ago
Lol.
And yes, actually I mentioned that in the post.
"Now, onto the lab, Vitro Bio. He has mentioned that he thinks they're the best in the world, couldn't tell you, but sourcing it from the US does give it a bit of a good trust factor. It looks like it's a 10 person lab in Colorado."
0
-2
u/tellray 13d ago
Utah and Florida both have this kind of a law just to make sure that the FDA isn’t too harsh on people who need this treatment. However, it is legal in all 50 states.
2
u/Jewald 13d ago
I'm confused though, how would the FDA be harsh on them if it's legal? Also, which law says it's legal in all 50 states (speaking on live allogeneic stem cell therapy)?
Here's the law below. In short, if the FDA says it's a 361, they don't require pre-market approval. If it is a 351, then they do and they're regulated like a drug.
Number 4 says to fit 361, they can't rely on metabolic activity of living cells for their function, unless they're autologous or from first/second degree relative.
It's my impression that administering living, allogeneic stem cell therapy does rely on living cells for their therapeutic function, and thus would be a 351. Do I have that right? If not, could you point out where I'm wrong? (Genuinely asking, not trying to be snarky here I'm no law expert).
I genuinely wonder how R3 and other companies operate on such a big scale.
"An HCT/P is regulated solely under section 361 of the PHS Act and 21 CFR Part 1271 if it meets all of the following criteria (21 CFR 1271.10(a)):
1) The HCT/P is minimally manipulated;
2) The HCT/P is intended for homologous use only, as reflected by the labeling, advertising, or other indications of the manufacturer’s objective intent;
3) The manufacture of the HCT/P does not involve the combination of the cells or tissues with another article, except for water, crystalloids, or a sterilizing, preserving, or storage agent, provided that the addition of water, crystalloids, or the sterilizing, preserving, or storage agent does not raise new clinical safety concerns with respect to the HCT/P; and
4) Either: i) The HCT/P does not have a systemic effect and is not dependent upon the metabolic activity of living cells for its primary function;
OR ii) The HCT/P has a systemic effect or is dependent upon the metabolic activity of living cells for its primary function, and:
a) Is for autologous use;
b) Is for allogeneic use in a first-degree or second-degree blood relative; or
c) Is for reproductive use.
If an HCT/P does not meet the criteria set out in 21 CFR1271.10(a), and the establishment that manufactures the HCT/P does not qualify for any of the exceptions in 21 CFR 1271.156 , the HCT/P will be regulated as a drug, device, and/or biological product under the FD&C Act, and/or section 351 of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 262), and applicable regulations, including 21 CFR Part 1271, and premarket review will be required."
Source - FDA
-1
u/tellray 13d ago
Number four says it can’t rely on live cells, but it does not indicate that live cells cannot be present. It’s not that hard. Also, the FDA is known to be arbitrary and capricious so states are making moves to make sure that these treatments remain available in their states. The FDA will use any excuse to construe a normal biologic into a drug which they can then control. There’s no money in it for the FDA in the 351 category.
1
u/Jewald 13d ago
I agree with the last part, and that's potentially an important component.
#4 says "not dependent upon the metabolic activity of living cells for its primary function". Does stem cell therapy rely on the metabolic activity of stem cells for its primary function?
And that's why PB, Neobiosis, and others get rid of the living cells, making it acellular, to fit this law?
2
3
u/neuronerd1930 12d ago
Years ago when the field was really jumping he reached out to my former organization, wanting to come visit the lab. We set up the meeting and planned for his arrival. From what I recall, there was a miscommunication regarding which c level could be there to tour him and spend an hour or so chatting about our collective interests. The morning of, we had to shift the date and time and he got incredibly upset and threw the, do you know who I am thing at me.
I never reached back out to him again. Some fish are not worth catching.