Would you buy a stem cell treatment from this man?

A Gold Coast stem cell marketer who charges patients up to $44,000 up front for clinically untested treatments has been referred to authorities for unethical and exploitative practices.

Mikael Wolfe, also known by his birth name of Michael Farrelly, has been referred to the Queensland Health Ombudsman and to police for his allegedly predatory practices in snaring clients for treatments by a little-known stem cell company which he promises treats conditions like multiple sclerosis and cancer.

Stem Cells Australia, the peak body representing stem cell science in Australia, says Mr Wolfe's company, Autologous Stem Cell Research Organisation (ASCRO) "appears to be engaging in unethical and exploitative practices of a particularly egregious nature."

Mr Wolfe describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur" and claims in correspondence to patients and to doctors that his company has arranged treatment for 60,000 patients and is making multi-million dollar profits.

In the case of one complaint to Stem Cells Australia, Mr Wolfe enticed a Cairns patient to fly to Brisbane for treatment at a company called Autologous Stem Cell Treatment (ASCT), which usually flies in wealthy Chinese and Taiwanese patients to be treated by Australian doctors.

Photo: Professor Martin Pera says there's is no evidence the treatments offered work and potentially do harm.

ASCT's autologous procedure, which uses the patient's own cells, involves taking blood from the patient, manipulating the cells and reinjecting it into their joints or bloodstream.

ASCT's director Eric Hu told 7.30 it should only be used for "rejuvenation", but Mikael Wolfe was promising on his ASCRO website that it could treat "debilitating health conditions such as MS, auto-immune disorder, arthritis, joint pain, Hepatitis B, leukaemia, thymus cancer, male and female infertility and erectile dysfunction".

The procedure has not yet undergone a single clinical trial for safety or efficacy but Mr Hu insists his procedure is safe and he has many repeat clients.

"The real concern is that patients are being put at risk, they're being charged exorbitant sums of money for treatments where there's absolutely no evidence of efficacy and that really have real potential to do harm," Stem Cells Australia's Program Leader, Professor Martin Pera, told 7.30.

Mr Wolfe or Patrick Collimore?

In email exchanges provided to 7.30, Mr Wolfe, posing as "Patrick Collimore", told a patient he could offer the $100,000 treatment at a special price of $44,000, but only if the patient immediately deposited $20,000 in his account that night.

"You will miss this opportunity if you don't take the step towards improving your health," Mr Collimore wrote.

Photo: Treatments offered on the ASCRO website (Supplied: ASCRO website)

"As the Jewish say, 'we give all our health for wealth but when we are on our death bed, we would give all our wealth for one day of health'."

When the patient flew to Brisbane to visit the ASCT premises, the receptionist had no idea who Patrick Collimore was, and he was met instead by Mikael Wolfe.

When asked why Mr Wolfe might call himself Patrick Collimore, his business associate Eric Hu said: "I think it's common practice within this industry or men's health industry to be using alias for their name."

When asked why they might use an alias, Mr Hu replied, "I'm not very sure," agreeing that it seemed "a bit odd".

In email exchanges with the Cairns patient, Mikael Wolfe put the hard sell on the potential patient, becoming agitated during email exchanges when the patient questioned his legitimacy.

"This has become tiresome. I'm trying to help you ... I gave you a solution on a silver platter."

He accused the patient of being "unprofessional" for wasting his time.

Undocumented claims and upfront payment

Photo: Eric Hu, a director of ASCT and a business associate of Mikael Wolfe, says the treatment should only be used for rejuvenation.

In a letter to the Queensland Health Ombudsman, Stem Cells Australia's Professor Martin Pera said that Mr Wolfe made "undocumented claims" about the treatment, provided "no information on possible risks of the treatment" and made "repeated demands for down payment prior to medical services".

7.30 put all of this to Mr Hu, and asked him if he would still use Mikael Wolfe as an agent to procure patients for his treatment.

"I think that question is better left for the doctor, so if a client does have a specific condition, I don't see because of someone else's bad history, I don't see why we would hold back something that may be able to help the client," Mr Hu said.

But he said he would definitely be having "a long discussion" with Mikael Wolfe.

"If he's operating in this field, like this, then it's definitely not acceptable," he said.

In another case, referred to Federal Police and also the medical regulator AHPRA, Mr Wolfe charged patients thousands of dollars up front for stem cell procedures that a doctor refused to perform.

Mr Wolfe promised the patient that a stem cell treatment would cure her atrophied jaw, where the bone had ground down and her teeth had fallen out.

Gold Coast stem cell doctor, Mike Belich, who uses his own procedure to treat joints, told 7.30 he informed that patient that stem cells could not cure her, and he also knocked back the two other Wolfe clients.

"They had conditions stem cells wouldn't help — you've got to be very judicious with stem cells," Dr Belich said.

"Stem cells can't magically help every disease."

He showed 7.30 a series of text messages between him and Mr Wolfe, in which he demanded that Mr Wolfe refund the patients' money immediately, saying they were complaining to police and the medical board because they had not yet been treated.

But Mr Wolfe became increasingly agitated in the text messages.

"Your efforts to get rid of me are tiresome. I have done nothing untoward at all, you are simply a hater," he wrote to Dr Belich.

"This little intimidation act your (sic) pulling is irritating me.

"I've been completely transparent with you and you seem to think that you can throw your weight around and act like a lunatic."

Months later, the medical regulator AHPRA told Dr Belich the money still had not been refunded to the patients.

"He's a complete fraudster. He's got no morals. He preys on people that are vulnerable," Dr Belich said.

"You'll have to talk to my lawyer"

7.30 attempted to call Mr Wolfe on six business numbers advertised online – all had engaged tones or had been disconnected.

He had left the waterfront property listed on his bail sheet as his home address — the new tenants said they had had armed police turn up and standover men trying to climb the wall.

At a house in nearby Hope Island, his grandmother answered the door and said she had no idea where he was, but agreed he was "in trouble".

7.30 finally tracked him down at Broadbeach Police Station where he was reporting for bail related to charges of possessing dangerous drugs.

When asked to respond to the complaints made about his business, Mr Wolfe replied, "you'll have to talk to my lawyer about that," and sped off in a car.

For Stem Cells Australia, the most worrying thing is that companies like Mr Wolfe's push treatments which remain completely unregulated and could potentially threaten patient safety.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is currently taking submissions on whether laws around using patients own stem cells, known as autologous treatments, should be strengthened.

"We are going to argue very strongly that these autologous treatments should come under the exact same regulations as any other type of cell therapy," Professor Martin Pera said.

"We're seeing the consequences in this case and many other cases, and they are bad consequences."

Submissions to the TGA close on October 6.