The discovery of regenerative therapies forthe optic nerve and their translation from the laboratory to the clinic haspiqued the attention of glaucoma patients, scientists, and physicians alike,and stem cell therapy is one of several innovative methods being investigated.Patients pay to enrol in experiments that are sponsored by them. Clinical studies are costly, and financing from conventional outlets (such as the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical corporations, or private foundations) is dwindling.
While patient-funded research seems on thesurface to offer a way for patients to access experimental treatments, it isproblematic for a variety of scientific and ethical reasons. The gold standardfor assessing an experimental therapy is a randomised research trial, in whichpatients are randomly assigned to either the experimental treatment category or a control group, which may or may not receive some treatment (placebo-controlled study), or may receive standard, accepted therapies. Normally, all research patients and physicians are unsure of who gets which medication, so this study design minimises prejudice against one treatment or another.
The legal implications are far more disturbing. Theseinvolve disparities in care coverage and the possibility of coercion ofmarginalised people who have exhausted all other treatment services and areready to risk their lives for an unproven treatment. Furthermore, a lack ofadequate supervision and control for patient-funded experiments has been identified, raising the risk that they are subtly disguised efforts by the prescribing clinic or physician to make profits until the FDA approves new care approaches. Optic Nerve Atrophy Stem Cell Treatment in Delhi is offered by thebest and the most reliable hospitals.