Trial requested for Vannoni over Stamina therapy

Treatment discredited by experts, may have adverse effects

(ANSA) - Turin, July 17 - Turin prosecutors on Wednesday requested that Davide Vannoni be indicted along with 12 others over his controversial Stamina therapy, which has been discredited after supporters said it offered hope for sufferers of some rare degenerative diseases. The charges against Vannoni include the extremely serious offence of criminal association.

Stamina's credibility has long been suspect, and last fall the health ministry ruled that the Stamina Foundation would no longer be allowed to test the treatment on humans. The foundation was also stripped of its non-profit status after a study found its treatment was "ignorant of stem-cell biology".

Recent investigations have shown risks of the treatment range from nausea to cancer, and reported that as many as one-quarter of all patients treated have experienced "adverse effects". In April, after study results became known, hospitals in Italy announced they had suspended the stem-cell treatment program. However, some local judges have ruled in favor of its application, despite the bans, amid heavy pressure from advocates and the families of patients.

The Stamina treatment involves extracting bone-marrow stem cells from a patient, supposedly turning them into neurons by exposing them to retinoic acid for two hours, and injecting them back into the patient. Supporters of the therapy thought it could be a cure for fatal degenerative nerve diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy.

A panel of experts appointed by Italy's health ministry said in January it found the therapy seriously lacking in both premise and practice. Their report cited "serious imperfections and omissions in the Stamina protocol, including conceptual errors and an apparent ignorance of stem-cell biology". A preliminary hearings judge will start deliberations on whether to indict Vannoni and the other suspects on November 4.