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Understanding this without a science degree
Regenerative medicine is sold with words designed to sound certain. Here is what those words actually mean, and the five questions that cut through all of it.
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Five questions worth asking about any treatment
These work on us too. If we cannot answer them about our own products, that tells you something.
What is the evidence that this works in my species?
Dog data is not cat data. Mouse data is not either. Ask which animal the study was done in.
Was there a comparison group?
Without one, you cannot separate the treatment from time, rest, and the natural ups and downs of a condition.
What is the standard treatment, and why are we not starting there?
For some conditions the conventional answer is genuinely better. For canine cruciate ligament disease, surgery beats injections and the evidence for that is strong.
How will we know whether it worked?
Agree on what you are measuring, and how, before you start. Write it down. Memory is generous about treatments we paid for.
What happens if it does not work, and what will this cost in total?
Ask for the whole course, not the first injection. And ask what the plan B is.
One honest sentence about our own line
DogStem, an equine umbilical-cord MSC medicine authorised by the EMA for dogs, reported that 51% of treated dogs met the primary endpoint — improvement on force-plate gait analysis at eight weeks — against 5% of dogs given placebo. In a separate multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of 80 client-owned dogs with elbow or hip osteoarthritis, 63% of treated dogs improved on force-plate gait analysis at eight weeks, with no systemic or permanent adverse events.
Two randomised, double-blinded, controlled intra-articular secretome trials in dogs with naturally occurring osteoarthritis have been published. One, in 26 dogs with an excipient control and 80-day follow-up, reported a statistically significant benefit on lameness. The other, in 20 dogs with a placebo control and 150-day follow-up, found that owner- and clinician-scored outcomes improved while accelerometry — the objective activity measure — showed no difference between groups.
How to read a marketing claim
Six phrases that sound like evidence and are not.
“Clinically proven”
Not a regulated phrase. Ask: proven in which species, against what comparison, measured how?
“Studies show”
Ask which study. If nobody will name it, there may not be one — or it may be in mice.
“All-natural” / “from your own body”
Natural origin says nothing about whether it works, and nothing about whether it is safe.
“FDA-registered” / “FDA-compliant”
Neither means approved. A facility can be registered while its product is unapproved.
“For research use only”
On a product being sold for a real patient, this is a warning sign, not a reassurance.
“Immune-privileged” / “zero rejection”
Overstated. In the closest study in dogs, antibodies were raised — safely, but they were raised.
Plain-language glossary
Sixteen terms you will meet on this site and everywhere else in this field.
Allogeneic
Cells from a different donor of the same species.
Xenogeneic
Cells from a different species — for example equine cells given to a dog.
Autologous
The animal’s own cells, taken and given back to the same animal.
Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)
A cell taken from tissue such as umbilical cord or fat. It mostly works by releasing signals that calm inflammation, not by turning into new tissue.
Exosome / extracellular vesicle
A tiny bubble released by cells, carrying proteins and genetic messages. There are no cells in an exosome product.
Intra-articular
Injected directly into a joint.
Placebo-controlled
Some animals got the real treatment and some got a dummy, and nobody knew which. This is the only way to tell a real effect from hope.
Randomised
Which animal got which treatment was decided by chance, not by choice.
Blinded
The owner, the vet, or both did not know which treatment was given.
In vivo
Tested in a living animal.
In vitro
Tested in a dish, not in an animal. A great deal of exciting research never leaves the dish.
Force-plate gait analysis
A pressure-sensing floor that measures how much weight a dog actually puts on each leg. It cannot be influenced by hope, which is why it is a strong endpoint.
Certificate of analysis (COA)
The lab report for the exact batch in the vial: what is in it, how much, and that it is sterile.
FDA-approved
The FDA reviewed a company’s evidence and agreed the product is safe and that it works, for a stated species and condition. No animal cell or exosome product has this.
Unapproved new animal drug
A legal category, not an insult. It means the product has not been through approval — which is true of every animal stem cell and exosome product in the United States, including ours.
Off-label / extralabel use
A veterinarian using an approved drug in a way its label does not cover. This is legal, common, and a matter of the vet’s own judgement.
The same thing, out loud
Comparison groups, blinding, and why the species an experiment was run in matters more than almost anything else on the page. If you read one thing here before you read a company's website, make it this.
Now make it about your animal
Tell us the species and what you are seeing, and we will show you only the relevant protocols and the questions to take to your vet.