US stem cell clinics, patient safety, and the FDA.

Scholarship on patients accessing unproven stem cell interventions is dominated by research addressing 'stem cell tourism' to such countries as China, India, Mexico, and the Ukraine. However, clinics marketing 'adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell treatments' are proliferating across the USA. These businesses typically claim to operate in compliance with federal regulations, but careful review of their commercial practices suggests that such clinics are marketing unapproved and noncompliant biological drugs.