Stem Cell Tourism Forces Costa Rican Authorities to Launch All-Out Crackdown

Costa Rica is cracking down on an unauthorized stem cell clinic that has attracted hundreds of foreigners seeking relief from degenerative diseases and serious injuries.

Better known for its idyllic tropical beaches and lush cloud forests, Costa Rica’s many hospitals and clinics have made medical tourism one of the fastest growing segments of its tourism sector, the motor of its economy.

They lure tens of thousands of foreigners seeking surgery, dental work, cancer treatment, cosmetic surgery, and dozens of other procedures at a fraction of their cost in the United States.

Until this week, one of those draws was stem cell treatment, using master cells gleaned from umbilical cords, fat and elsewhere.

The health ministry last month ordered the country’s largest stem cell clinic to stop offering treatments, arguing there is no evidence that the treatments work or are safe.

The clinic’s owner, Arizona entrepreneur Neil Riordan, told Reuters he closed the clinic and admitted the treatments, involving the removal and re-injection of stem cells, had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The ministry said the clinic had a permit to store the adult stem cells, extracted from patients’ own fat tissue, bone marrow and donated umbilical cords, but is not authorized to perform the treatment.