Verification hub
How to verify a stem cell clinic
Eleven short guides that turn marketing claims into checkable facts: certificates, licences, release testing, doses, sources, routes and prices — plus the 25 questions to send before you travel.
- Medically reviewed by:
- Prof. Dr. Erdal Karaöz Team
- Last reviewed:
- Next review:
The short answer
Verifying a stem cell clinic comes down to six checkable areas: who treats you and where, what the product is, who is licensed to make it, what release testing was performed on your batch, how and why it is being administered, and what the total price covers. Each of those has documents behind it. Ask for the documents by email, before payment, and judge the reply on specificity rather than tone.
Nothing in this cluster depends on choosing us. Apply it to us as readily as to anyone else — that is what it is for.
Start here
How to choose a stem cell clinic in Türkiye: 25 questions to ask before travelling
One email you can send to every clinic on your shortlist, with the reason each question matters and what an acceptable answer looks like.
The verification guides
Manufacturing quality
Verify GMP certification
A GMP logo on a website proves nothing. A GMP certificate names an issuing authority, a site address, a scope and an expiry date — and those four fields are checkable.
Read the guideRegulatory
Verify a cell-processing licence
GMP describes how a facility works. A licence describes what it is legally permitted to do with human tissue — and the two are not interchangeable.
Read the guideLaboratory documents
Read a Certificate of Analysis
A Certificate of Analysis is the batch's report card: identity, count, viability, sterility, mycoplasma, endotoxin, and the date each test was run. Here is how to read one line by line.
Read the guideLaboratory documents
Verify cell viability
Viability figures are the most quoted and least qualified number in the industry. A percentage means nothing without the method, the timing and the assay it was measured with.
Read the guideLaboratory documents
Verify sterility testing
Sterility is the one release test where the honest answer involves a timing problem — and how a clinic explains that problem tells you most of what you need to know.
Read the guideLaboratory documents
Verify mycoplasma testing
Mycoplasma contamination is invisible: no turbidity, no smell, no change in the culture that you could see. Any expanded cell product must be tested for it specifically.
Read the guideComparing offers
Compare cell doses
'100 million cells' sounds like twice as much as fifty million until you ask what was counted, when it was counted, and how many of those cells were alive.
Read the guideComparing offers
Compare MSC sources
Wharton's jelly, bone marrow and fat all yield mesenchymal stromal cells, but they differ in donor age, yield, procedure burden and how they behave in culture.
Read the guideComparing offers
Compare IV vs intrathecal
The delivery route changes where the cells go, what the procedure risks are, and how strong the supporting evidence is. It is not an upsell decision.
Read the guideComparing offers
Compare treatment prices
Two quotes are only comparable once you have reduced both to the same unit: everything actually required, for the same product, at the same dose, including the parts that appear later.
Read the guidePatient protection
Identify misleading claims
Most misleading marketing in this field is not an outright lie. It is a true sentence about laboratory work presented as if it were a clinical result.
Read the guideCopy this request and send it to any clinic
Two ready-made messages that ask for the certificates, licences, test results and quotation in one go. Send them unedited, to us as well as to anyone else on your shortlist.
Email template
Subject: Documentation request before consultation — stem cell treatment Dear team, I am considering treatment with you and would like to review your documentation before we go further. Please reply by email with the following: 1. The GMP or manufacturing authorisation certificate for the laboratory that will process my cells, showing the issuing authority, site address, scope and expiry date. 2. The licence or registration that permits that facility to procure, process and store human cells, with the licence number and issuing authority. 3. A sample Certificate of Analysis for a released batch, with patient data removed. 4. The release specifications you apply: cell viability, identity markers, sterility, mycoplasma and endotoxin, each with the method used and the acceptance limit. 5. The cell dose I would receive, stated in cells per kilogram of body weight, and the number of doses. 6. The cell source and tissue of origin, and whether the product is autologous or allogeneic. 7. The route of administration proposed for my condition, and the reason for that route. 8. The name and registration number of the physician who would treat me, and the hospital where administration takes place. 9. The published evidence you rely on for my indication, with references. 10. An itemised quotation showing what is included, what is excluded, and your refund policy if I am assessed as unsuitable. My condition, age and relevant history: [add here]. I understand some answers may depend on assessment. Where that is the case, please say so rather than estimating. Kind regards, [your name]
WhatsApp template
Hello, before booking a consultation I would like to check your documentation. Could you please send me: 1) the GMP certificate for the processing laboratory, 2) the cell-processing licence and its number, 3) a sample Certificate of Analysis, 4) the release limits for viability, sterility and mycoplasma, 5) the cell dose per kilogram and the route of administration, 6) the treating physician's name and registration number, 7) an itemised quotation with exclusions. Thank you.
What each answer should contain is explained in the verification guides.
Frequently asked questions
Related verification guides
- Our own credentials and quality standards
- Laboratory transparency report
- How we evaluate evidence
- Clinical decisions: how we think through enquiries
Use this on us too
Send these questions to us exactly as written. We answer them with documents, and if something does not apply to your case we say so.