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By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on Aug. 17, 2013 at 12:02am |


A health Department consultant on Friday resigned to avoid conflict with Health Secretary Enrique Ona over his aim to develop the Philippines into an international center for stem cell therapy.

In a phone interview, Dr. Anthony Leachon said he met Ona Thursday and informed him that he was quitting after going through “sleepless nights” over the issue.

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Leachon said Ona asked him to mediate with the medical associations that opposed the Health Department’s views.

“But my concern then was that the stand of the Health secretary will not change even after the meeting or the public hearing. There will be problems, so I quit my post,” he said.

Leachon said he believed it was unethical for doctors providing stem cell treatment to charge for the service because the procedure is still experimental.

“There are still no clinical trials to prove that the procedure is safe and it will have no side effects on the patients. We must remember that patients are paying the huge cost of the procedure and yet, they are not assured of their safety,” said Leachon, who is also president of the Philippine College of Physicians.

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The statement, entitled "Stem Cell: The Final Word," was a reprint of Ona's keynote message at the mid-year convention of the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine last August 12.
 
In particular, Leachon reacted to Ona's apparent support for the charging of professional fees for stem cell treatments that have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In an SMS message, Ona told GMA News that he is "okay" with Leachon's resignation but did not elaborate further.

"(Leachon) is a one-peso volunteer consultant on non-communicable diseases. (His resignation) is okay with the Secretary," read Ona's message.

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Ona also upheld the "limited innovative administration of unproven stem cell therapies... outside a research setting."
 
Citing medical ethics professor Insoon Hyun of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Ona defined stem cell therapy as an "innovative therapy" that could "improve an individual patient's condition."
 
Ona was also supportive of providing these therapies in a controlled but commercial setting:
 
"We cannot completely adopt Western practices of offering these investigational therapies completely free to clinical trial participants. This approach will not only be unaffordable for our institutions but very expensive and will forever relegate us to be a 'marketing testing ground' after others have developed a technique in their country," he said.

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