Many registered studies are well designed trials, approved by ethics committees, registered with the NIH and carried out in academic institutions, without charge to the patient. Unfortunately the US site now also lists ‘trials’ carried out by private clinics that may not meet appropriate scientific or ethical standards. There are unfortunately now many 'Treatment Centres' and ‘Regenerative Medicine Clinics’ around the world, including in Australia, that advertise unproven and unregulated stem cell treatment (usually using autologous patient cells obtained by liposuction, see below) for a large number of diseases. Sadly these trials are carried out without evidence of safety or efficacy of this treatment. and usually at significant cost to the patient (not reimbursable by Medicare).