Among companies who advertise unproven, direct-to-consumer stem cell therapies and employ at least one physician, only about half claimed to treat conditions that matched the scope of their physicians’ training, according to data published in JAMA.

“What we know about the backgrounds of clinicians has been largely anecdotal and no study has systematically examined the background qualifications of clinicians who offer unproven stem cell treatments,” Zubin Master, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic Biomedical Ethics Research Program, told Healio Rheumatology. “By knowing the residency and/or fellowship qualifications of physicians at each company, we were able to examine whether [at least one] physician has the appropriate training to provide stem cell treatments for the conditions that companies claim to offer.”