Rain on the Stem Cell Parade

This blog post, "China SCI Study: Premature Mid-Trial Speculation", from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, keeps an instructive point in mind, regarding the encouraging news out of China I posted on recently:

The trial we are talking about, from ChinaSCINet, is, as they say in Texas, big hat, no cattle. I know – 15 out of 20 completely injured folks with SCI for at least a year were reportedly able to walk using rolling walkers and “minimal assistance.” Sounds pretty cool, and indeed it may be so. But at this point – it’s a Phase II trail, and still pretty early in the process of evaluating a therapy – the work is a promise, based on unblinded, expectant anecdote; once it gets peer-reviewed and therefore validated by publication in a medical journal, and perhaps even duplicated by others, then we can take it seriously.

The China trial wasn’t reported by me or the mainstream science press because there was nothing else to go on but a press release. Less than an inch away from the web link to the release is a “donate now” button. Might the two be related?
 

Maybe a little cynical, but necessary and crucial to keep in mind. It's easy to rush to judgment and jubilation, but didn't The Beatles sing about "The Long and Winding Road"? (I'd sing, but no one wants to hear that.)

So be encouraged, but remember that there's a still a bumpy, possibly pot-holed (it's Michigan, so definitely) road ahead.