LARTA: Stem Cell and Longevity Clinics in The Bahamas, Autism Next

From the 2013 stem cell law to LARTA

In April 2024 Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville laid the Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Bill, 2024 in the House of Assembly to repeal and replace the Stem Cell Research and Therapy Act of 2013, calling it "a balanced approach to promoting innovation in healthcare"⁴. In the debate, Prime Minister Philip Davis said the goal was to make the country "a premier destination for medical and wellness tourism"³. It passed the House in July 2024², and Davis later referred to it as the Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Act passed "last year"⁶. The government's stated aim, in the bill's objects and reasons, is to "establish The Bahamas as a world leader in medical and wellness tourism in the field of longevity and regenerative medicine"¹.

The debate was not unanimous. St Anne's MP Adrian White warned that "experimental" treatments could do more harm than good; former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis supported the bill but cited US FDA warnings about costly, bogus stem cell therapies and said oversight is essential².

What the Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Act requires

According to the bill text published by the Office of the Attorney General¹:

• Scope. The "Field" covers gene therapies, stem cell therapies, advanced longevity therapies, cancer therapies, immunotherapies, regenerative therapies, functional medicines and gerontology (section 2)¹.
• Two bodies. A seven-member National Longevity and Regenerative Therapy Board (sections 6–8), whose duties include "encouraging the advancement of medical tourism," and a National Longevity and Regenerative Therapy Ethics Review Committee (section 9)¹.
• Approval before treatment. Applications must be approved by the Ethics Committee before distribution or research begins (section 13(1)), with full, provisional or research approval; no therapy may start until the Board issues a written notice of authorisation (sections 13(8) and 14)¹.
• Oversight. The Board keeps a registry of approved therapies (section 16), may appoint a Monitoring Body that inspects premises and tracks advertising (section 18), and facilities must be licensed under the Hospitals and Health Care Facilities Act (section 20)¹.
• Prohibited acts. Including testing gene therapies without informed consent, misbranding or adulterating an approved therapy, and falsely claiming an approval (section 17)¹.
• Penalties. Any breach carries "a fine of a minimum of twenty-five thousand dollars or to a term of imprisonment minimum of two years, or to both" (section 23)¹. The Minister may suspend a facility immediately by order (section 21)¹.

Implementation began in April 2025 with a digital platform, also called LAR-TA, designed to vet approved therapies, confirm patient consent and ethical approval, and track follow-up data. "The LAR-TA system has been developed to ensure that patients are properly consented," Dr Darville said⁵.

The clinics are arriving

In September 2025 the Prime Minister opened Cellcolabs at Live Well, a partnership between the Swedish company Cellcolabs and Live Well Family Health Centre, as a regional base for stem cell and regenerative research, saying "Approvals must be earned. Clinics must be licensed. Oversight must be constant"⁶. In January 2026, at the grand opening of Quantum Longevity AI, he spoke of a shift toward "preventative, data-driven, and regenerative healthcare" and told guests:"Patients can get hurt when there are no clear rules"⁷.

A stem cell centre for paediatric autism

In July 2026 The Tribune reported that Doctors Hospital will partner with Bahamas NeuroGen Ltd, the Bahamian subsidiary of the Navi Mumbai-based NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute, to open a centre at the former Doctors Hospital West on Blake Road⁸. Citing the Central Bank of The Bahamas, the paper said the centre would offer diagnostics, neuro-rehabilitation and autologous stem cell therapy for autism, cerebral palsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders, starting with paediatric autism only, with 34 rooms, an operating theatre and a stem cell laboratory⁸. The project relies on LARTA; the article listed incorporation, Bahamas Investment Authority approval and pending exchange control, immigration and professional-council steps, and did not report an Ethics Committee decision⁸.

What the evidence says about stem cells for autism

NeuroGen's own researchers published a retrospective study of 1,011 patients with autism who received intrathecal autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells; they reported improvement in 90.6 % at a mean of 19.3 months and nine seizures, without a control group¹⁰. The best controlled evidence points the other way: in a Duke University phase II trial, 180 children aged 2 to 7 were randomised to autologous or allogeneic cord blood or placebo, and a single infusion "was not associated with improved socialization skills or reduced autism symptoms"⁹. The US FDA says autism is among the conditions for which no regenerative product is approved, and that patients charged for such products outside a clinical trial are "likely being deceived"¹¹. Unregulated stem cell clinics have caused serious harm, including severe bilateral vision loss after intravitreal injections of adipose-derived cells¹², and direct-to-consumer marketing of unapproved stem cell interventions is widespread even in the United States¹³.