A local biotech business group on Tuesday denied a media report that its now-defunct unit provided unauthorized stem cell therapy for President Park Geun-hye before her election.
“Rumors about our provision of (stem cell) therapy for President Park and Choi Soon-sil are untrue,” Biostar said via a notice on its website.
Seoul-based Biostar has several bio ventures as affiliates that specialize in anti-aging and cell rejuvenation therapies using stem cells.
A TV channel reported Saturday that in 2010, Park, then a legislator and chairwoman of the Grand National Party, a precursor to the now-ruling Saenuri Party, was given illegal injections of stem cells -- extracted from her and then cultured in vitro by a company called RNL Bio -- at a cosmetic surgery clinic.
(123rf)
The now defunct RNL Bio, a unit of Biostar, shut down after a crackdown by health authorities on suspicion it conducted the unauthorized therapy on a select group of clients illegally.
Based on the testimony of the whistle-blower -- a former employee of RNL Bio, the report said Park was among the firm’s “secret VIP clients” whom the company tried to lobby to win legal authorization by secretly offering them free therapies.
“(RNL Bio) was cleared by the prosecution in 2011, which investigated allegations that it offered the authorized stem cell therapies to clients,” Biostar said.
By Korea Herald staff (khnews@heraldcorp.com)
