MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it was investigating the clinic that administered intravenous (IV) glutathione and stem cell therapy to a 39-year-old woman in Quezon City, who reportedly later died.

News reports say that the woman allegedly died from complications from the therapy.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said that while stem cell therapy is being done in the Philippines, not all clinics are licensed to perform the procedure.

“May license ba sila to use stem cell? Meron kaming listahan ng mga clinic na licensed by the DOH to give stem cell. Chine-check namin yung machine, yung sterility, yung protocols doon sa clinic. So pinapa-check ko pa yan,” he said in a briefing with reporters,

Only six facilities have been accredited by the DOH to perform human stem cell and cell-based or cellular therapies, namely, the Lung Center of the Philippines, Makati Medical Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Asian Stem Cell Institute and St. Luke’s Medical Center Inc.

A 2013 circular from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognizes only hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, corneal resurfacing with limbal stem cells, and skin regeneration with epidermal stem cells as accepted applications of stem cell therapy.

While stem cell therapy uses one’s own cells, the health chief said a person could acquire infections once it is processed outside of and eventually returned in the body.

“That’s what the DOH checks: that your facility follows sterility standards, that your devices are clean. So that’s why the licensing is implemented for the safety of the clients of that stem cell clinic. Now I will agree madaming stem cell na sumusulpot kung saan-saan especially now that stem cell therapy has become even simpler,” he said.

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Aside from exercising caution on stem cell therapy, Herbosa said the public’s knowledge about IV glutathione should also be enhanced.

“If I tell you 'IV glutathione', yes, it will whiten your skin and make you look really Caucasian, but it can damage your kidneys and kill you. The IV glutathione is not safe to be used in clinics,” he said

"I think I’d rather use that in the hospital, it’s designed for the hospital. It’s a rescue medicine for chemotherapeutic complications ng cancer. But they discovered yung mga cancer patients na ini-injection, pumuputi. So some doctors started using it. Nagglu-glutathione party sila," added the official.

• Glutathione needs prescription, considered as drug: FDA

The agency said that it would review a 2013 administrative order that set guidelines on stem cell therapy in the Philippines.

“The point is a woman died who shouldn’t have died. This is a preventable death. And we need to act on this,” Herbosa said.

• DOH cautions vs IV gluta, stem cell treatment from unlicensed clinics

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