Trending News Today: FDA Seeks to Regulate Clinics Offering Unapproved Stem Cell Treatments

The FDA is proposing new ways to regulate clinics that offer stem cell treatments that have not been approved, according to California Healthline. There are approximately 570 clinics offering the treatments as therapies for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and spinal cord injuries. These clinics do not believe their treatments need FDA-approval since the stem cells are derived from fat cells, but the FDA does not agree.

New York’s Department of Financial Services has created a new law to help state insurers deal with the risk adjustment program. This program has come under scrutiny lately, because insurers argue that it does not actually transfer funds to insurers with higher-risk clients, and may not be effective in New York. The new regulation will determine whether the 2017 federal program will negatively affect small health insurers, and create a market stabilization pool to tailor the program for the state, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This past week, an antibiotic-resistant strain of E. coli bacteria was found in a 2-year-old child in Connecticut. The particular strain has the mcr-1 gene, and is resistant to colistin, the antibiotic used when no other antibiotic is effective, according to The Washington Post. This is the fourth case identified in the United States, and further supports the need for more research into creating new antibiotics.