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The government of Costa Rica has closed a private clinic offering stem-cell treatments, on the grounds that there is no proof the treatments work.

According to Reuters, doctors at the clinic in the capital, San José, claimed to extract stem cells from fat or bone marrow, then re-inject them to treat a range of conditions, including diabetes and spinal injury. The treatments cost up to $30,000, and many of the patients were “tourists” from the US.

The health ministry says that although the clinic has a permit to extract and store stem cells, it has no permission to carry out treatments with them.

For its part, Cell Medicine said in a that it had decided to close the San Jose facility due to Costa Rica’s “unpredictable and arbitrary regulatory landscape”.

The non-profit in Deerfield, Illinois, has warned against so-called “stem-cell tourism”, but many unproven therapies remain on offer around the world, marketed mainly through anecdotal reports of success. More information on stem cell treatments can be found on their .