Placenta Extract
A biological extract, not a cell therapy. It contains no living cells and belongs in a different regulatory category.
Not a cell therapy
What it actually is
Human placenta extract is a processed preparation of placental tissue containing peptides, amino acids, nucleotides and growth factors. It is grouped with cell therapies in clinic menus, but it is categorically different: there are no living cells, no engraftment, no differentiation and no cellular mechanism. Whatever it does, it does as a mixture of molecules.
Where it comes from
Human placental tissue collected after delivery, with donor screening for transmissible infection. Some products on the market are of animal origin — ovine or bovine — and are not equivalent, which is a distinction worth confirming explicitly before use.
How it is made — and what can go wrong
Tissue is homogenised, hydrolysed, filtered and sterilised. Composition depends on the extraction method, and standardisation across batches is the central quality question. Unlike a defined medicine, an extract is characterised by process rather than by a specified active substance.
Regulatory status
Human placenta extract preparations are approved in Japan for specific narrow indications, including certain liver conditions and menopausal symptoms, under that country's framework. Those approvals do not transfer to Europe and do not cover the anti-ageing, revitalisation or general wellness uses for which the product is typically marketed elsewhere.
What the evidence shows
Clinical literature is limited and concentrated in a small number of jurisdictions. Evidence for systemic revitalisation, anti-ageing or general recovery claims does not meet the standard applied to medicines.
Limits worth knowing
Batch-to-batch composition is not standardised in the way an approved medicine's is. Because it is not a cell therapy, framing it alongside stem cell products is misleading regardless of intent. Confirm human versus animal origin — the two are frequently conflated.
What this could actually be used for
Preparations derived from placental tissue — which may mean living cells, a cell-free extract, or a decellularised membrane, depending entirely on the manufacturer. These are not variations of one product; they are different categories of thing sharing a source.
Placental tissue is rich in growth factors and immunologically tolerant by design — it exists to sit between two genetically different individuals without being rejected. That is the biological argument, and it is a real one.
Wound and burn coverage
Amniotic membrane as a biological dressing is the most established placental application by a wide margin. It works as a barrier and a scaffold, which is a device-like use rather than a cell therapy, and it should not be cited as evidence for infused cells.
Eye surface repair
The same membrane used on the ocular surface for persistent epithelial defects, where an immunologically quiet biological cover is exactly what the tissue needs.
Anti-inflammatory infusion 6 studies registered
Where placental cells or extracts are given systemically, the proposed role is signalling, similar to the mesenchymal secretome. Registered work here concentrates in diabetic foot ulcers, peripheral arterial disease and Crohn disease. All cell therapy research registered for this condition →
Immune complications after transplant
Decidual stromal cells from placenta have been studied in graft-versus-host disease and haemorrhagic cystitis, on the same immunological reasoning as mesenchymal cells.
Where it stops. ‘Placenta’ on a label says almost nothing about content. Ask first whether the product contains living cells at all — the answer changes the regulation, the risk, and which of the directions above has any bearing on it.
What the registry actually shows for this cell type
Our own count of every study registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under this cell type, retrieved 2026-09-04. A registration is a declaration of intent, not a result — which is why the status column matters more than the total does.
| Status in the registry | Studies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Status not updated by sponsor | 10 | 33% |
| Completed | 7 | 23% |
| Terminated early | 5 | 17% |
| Recruiting now | 4 | 13% |
| Withdrawn before enrolling | 2 | 7% |
| Not yet recruiting | 1 | 3% |
| Active, closed to entry | 1 | 3% |
| All registered studies | 30 | 100% |
Reading it: 7 studies stopped before finishing — terminated, withdrawn or suspended, 23% of the total; 2 studies carry no assigned trial phase, meaning they sit outside the phased development path that leads to an approved medicine; 12 studies reached Phase 2 or later, against 16 studies still at Phase 1 or earlier; 10 records have not had a status update from the sponsor and may be dormant. One sponsor, Celularity Incorporated, accounts for 9 of the 30 records, so this is closer to a single-programme field than an independently replicated one.
The directions above describe where the biology points and where research has been registered. They are not claims that any of it works, not evidence of benefit, and not a treatment recommendation. Counts are our own extraction from the ClinicalTrials.gov API, retrieved 2026-09-04; the queries behind them are published with the dataset so that anyone can repeat the count.
Conditions where this cell family is studied
Public registries do not carry a separate category for this sub-type. Studies using it are recorded under the broader mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) heading, alongside bone marrow, adipose and umbilical sources. The counts below therefore describe the MSC family, which includes this preparation but is not limited to it.
From clinicaltrials.gov API v2, snapshot 2026-08-29. Dark overlay marks studies currently recruiting.
| Condition | Registered MSC studies | Recruiting now | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knee osteoarthritis | 124 | 9 | 19% |
| Cirrhosis | 62 | 5 | 9% |
| Crohn disease / IBD | 52 | 6 | 8% |
| Stroke recovery | 45 | 7 | 7% |
| Spinal cord injury | 38 | 2 | 6% |
| Multiple sclerosis | 37 | 3 | 6% |
| Heart failure | 32 | 3 | 5% |
| Diabetes | 29 | 1 | 4% |
| ALS | 29 | 2 | 4% |
| Alzheimer disease | 23 | 6 | 4% |
| Lupus | 23 | 4 | 4% |
| Erectile dysfunction | 23 | 5 | 4% |
| All 26 conditions tracked | 657 | 74 | 100% |
657 registered studies across 26 conditions, of which 74 are recruiting. Knee osteoarthritis alone takes 19% of them. A provider offering this preparation for a condition near the bottom of the table is working far outside where the research sits.
One question the table cannot answer for you: ask which registered study used their preparation, from their tissue source, at their dose. A family-level count is not evidence for a specific product. The split across MSC, HSCT and exosomes is in the cell type by condition map.
What to ask before agreeing to anything
- Human or animal origin, and what donor screening applies?
- What is the batch composition specification, and how is consistency demonstrated?
- Under which authorisation is it being supplied and administered in this country?
- What clinical evidence supports the specific claim being made, as opposed to the product generally?
Sources behind the numbers on this page
- PubMed — Placenta Extract
- ClinicalTrials.gov — registered studies
- EMA — advanced therapy medicinal products
- FDA — cellular and gene therapy products
Study counts above are our own extraction from ClinicalTrials.gov; the links let you reproduce them. Not medical advice, and not an assessment of whether any treatment is appropriate for you.