Complaint Review: Chris Centeno regenexx.com

 He rips on everyone else's supposed wrong doings, but he is the biggest dirt bag of them all . He was illegally making Stem Cells, over charging patients that can't afford his proceedures of "Unproven Stem Cell Therapies'" and Chris Centeno is the one the FDA went after and Centeno lost to the FDA.

He sued the FDA, lost again, had to pay money.. Now Centeno attacks everyone else while he is involved in an insurance scam.

A Regenexx marketing booklet states: “70% of orthopedic surgeries “can be completely avoided with a Regenexx procedure”—a claim Fu calls “silly," reported Time.  Read the Regenexx Claim here from their website:

https://regenexxcorporate.com/why-did-a-fortune-500-company-add-our-procedures-to-their-healthcare-plan/

Regenexx.com and Chris Centeno are one of the biggest violators of FDA guidelines praying on public patients in pain on the internet. Even more awful is their patients, clients, and real consumers are often senior citizen duped out of their savings. Let's hope that the Chris Centeno run organization is not liquidating senior citizen's life savings for procedures that may otherwise be covered by Medicare. 

Source. 

Employers Are Steering Workers Toward Controversial Stem Cell Therapies

https://time.com/5609972/stem-cell-clinic-controversy-regenexx/

I appreciate you clearing up the fact Chris Centeno of Regenexx has never been and Anesthesiologist. However, the spirit of the comment is Chris Centeno is not an Orthopedic Surgeon, has never been an Orthopedic Surgeon, and Chris Centeno is still not an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Chris Centeno slams other physicians in the stem cell industry. Some may deserve criticism and most probably do not. But is Chris Centeno qualified to attack other physicians accusing such other doctors of not following FDA guidelines and going as far as to accuse other doctors of making illegal drugs?

It is Chris Centeno that was sent an FDA warning letter for doing the very same activity of illegal drug manufacturing that Chris Centeno accuses other doctors of. Read the FDA warning letter here:

https://www.casewatch.net/fdawarning/prod/2008/regenexx.shtml

More concerning evidence Chris Centeno should not be the authority to take advice from regarding FDA regulations is a claim made in the above article to mislead seniors. The statement is “you can,” not you may, or it’s a possible alternative. Even more disgusting and deplorable, Chris Centeno’s organization is praying on Senior Citizens looking for hope just one year after the “predatory lending” disastrous practices that led to one of this country’s greatest financial disasters.

The Claim:

J.A. states "I want the whole world—especially seniors—to know that injuries such as femoral, hip and pelvic fractures don't have to diminish your quality of life. You can be healthy and moving forward again with this procedure."

Then Chris Centeno sued the FDA claiming in a “nutshell” the FDA had no right to regulate his company. You can read about the 2010 lawsuit below:

http://www.fdalawblog.net/wp-content/uploads/archives/docs/regenerative---complaint.pdf

Regenexx and Chris Centeno lost their case then the FDA went after Regenexx and Chris Centeno.

“Regenexx lost its case and was countersued by the FDA, which charged that Regenexx was marketing an unapproved drug. In 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington sided with the FDA, forcing Regenexx to stop performing the controversial procedures. Today, Regenexx only performs this procedure in the Cayman Islands, where the government allows it,” reported Time https://time.com/5609972/stem-cell-clinic-controversy-regenexx/

If you would like to read about the FDA suing and stopping Chris Centeno from making ILLEGAL DRUGS, you can read all about it here:

https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/litigation/b/litigation-blog/posts/d-c-circuit-says-fda-can-regulate-stem-cell-drugs-company-properly-enjoined

Then to circumvent the US Government Chris Centeno uses USA based clinics to send patients to the Cayman Islands where he can make lots of money and make claims that are not permitted in the USA. Many of these clients are seniors and I question if this kind of marketing in the USA to take patients to another country to perform surgery and experimental drug manufacturing techniques is legal. If it is legal, it shouldn’t be. The medical boards should get involved if the US Government turns a blind eye. You can read about this practice to circumvent US Law by Chris Centeno here: https://regenexx.com/our-approach/orthobiologics/

I don’t doubt that some people benefit from regenerative procedures. I even believe in many regenerative medicine techniques, but the evidence provided above brings into question the ethics of Chris Centeno. There are many bad actors in this arena and according to documented evidence above, Chris Centeno is probably a “bad actor in the stem cell business.” If you can please keep in mind the evidence presented is a matter of public record, and the accuser that brings about Chris Centeno’s questionable medical procedures and marketing techniques is not an unscrupulous competitor. It’s the United State Government Federal Drug and Food Administration vs Chris Centeno.

I am a doctor in my field, and have suffered from chronic neck, shoulder and lower back pain from years of athletics and computer work. I was treated by the Centeno-Schultz clinic at the beginning of this month for these issues, and as I recover and heal, I continue to have positive results.

Contrary to this posted report, Centeno was never an anesthesiologist, and he is not an orthopedic surgeon. He's a board-certified Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation physician specialist. This makes me curious about the accuracy of content posted on Ripoffreport.com.

Before I committed to treatment, I interrogated this clinic somewhat. They answered all of my questions, and were an open book. From my questioning and experience as a patient, Dr. Centeno and his doctor team don't and didn't promise anything. Just like they did me, they carefully review each candidate for eligibility and do not treat everyone. The Centeno-Schultz clinic clearly communicated, just like with any other medical treatment (such as surgery), that individual results can vary - and of course they do.

I learned about the tens of thousands of treatments documented in their patient registry from the past (almost) 15 years, and that not all, but the majority, of patients have had good outcomes with significant pain relief and improvement in function.

While these different regenerative cell therapies are reported to be "unproven", to me, this registry is more than a good start. Another driver to credibility: the many clinical studies regarding the use of regenerative medicine in orthopedics published in the National Library of Medicine – most of which Dr. Centeno is the primary author.

The practice does not just use stem cells, they are specific and technical about which types of cells they use. They may use platelet rich plasma, platelet poor plasma, bone marrow concentrate and other regenerative cells (though not embryonic stem cells), based on their mechanisms of action. And they use them for orthopedic conditions that are not just related to the knees, as suggested in the article.

They have successfully treated spines (cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral), shoulders, hips, knees, elbows and other musculoskeletal areas. These therapies are tailored to the patient and are not a blanket approach to care.

They are certainly not a "cure all", and this clinic does not suggest that these therapies are. The other clinics I considered did not clearly differentiate the types of cell therapies or their different roles for different treatments. I was not convinced about their science or techniques.

For the above reasons, I do not believe all “stem cell” clinics or providers are the same, and am not sure I would trust them all.

The FDA says they have the authority to regulate stem cell products in the US. However, the Centeno-Schultz Clinic reports this is false, according to the Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR 1271 to be exact), though I have not taken the time to dive into this part.

This non-surgical approach to my pain management and physical rehab fit my preferences best. It was not as expensive or risky as orthopedic surgery would have been. I understand why self-funded employers and other insurance companies are looking to this approach as a cost-effective alternative to current standards care. 

While regenerative medicine with stem cells is “new” and controversial right now, the concepts and practice have been around for many years. The techniques are improving, and the supporting literature is growing. Standards of care take a long time to change.

I think when a good or better treatment strategy begins to emerge, naturally, many impacted parties feel threatened and push back. But if the science, the clinical benefit and the cost benefit continue to hold true, then society almost has no choice but to begin to embrace it as a potential new standard of care.