Health Secretary Ona wants curbs on stem-cell therapy

Health Secretary Enrique Ona

It is the secret to the vitality of some of the country’s famous senior citizens, among them 88-year-old Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and 75-year-old former President Joseph Estrada.

Stem-cell therapy, the expensive regenerative treatment popularly used around the world to cheat aging and treat serious diseases, has become the latest cosmetic fad.

But doctors say dubious clinics offering quick treatment could be risky.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona has formed a special task force to draft guidelines that would regulate facilities offering stem-cell therapy, noting how several clinics have remained unregulated.

“We are already constituting the task force and the guidelines [will be out] very soon. We have to come up with this because we already hear a lot of advertisements,” Ona told reporters on Friday.