Cell and cell-derived products
Cell therapies
Whole cells, or the material cells release, given in the hope of repairing or protecting a developing brain. This is the most heavily marketed group of treatments in paediatric neurology, and the one where the gap between what is promised and what has been shown is widest.
If everything on conventional care is not yet fully in place, that is where the next decision belongs — not here.
Stem cell therapy
Several different products share this name. Some are licensed medicines for blood disorders; none is a licensed treatment for cerebral palsy or autism anywhere in the world.
Umbilical cord blood, cord tissue MSCs, bone marrow mononuclear cells
Early research onlyExosomes
The cell-free next step after stem cells, with genuinely interesting laboratory science — and, in children, almost no controlled clinical evidence at all.
Extracellular vesicles, MSC-derived EVs
Early research onlyMuse cells
A distinct cell type with an unusual property — it appears to home to damaged tissue on its own — and an unusually small amount of clinical evidence, almost none of it in children.
Multilineage-differentiating Stress Enduring cells