Umbilical-cord MSCs
Donated at full-term healthy births and screened against the same panel used for blood and organ donation. The youngest and most anti-inflammatory of the three. The foundation for systemic, neurologic, and autoimmune work.
Physician-led MSC stem cell therapy
You're not out of options.
For the person facing a knee replacement, the back that ruins your day, and the conditions no one has answers for. Mesenchymal stem cells (your body's own repair coordinators), grown, tested, and matched to your case in the lab at Hospital Angeles, Tijuana.
→ Physician team licensed in Mexico→ In-house cell processing and release testing→ Multiple allogeneic cell types, matched to your case→ Physician team reviews every case→ Inquiries declined when not a fit→ ~25–30 min Escalade transfer from San Diego, door to door
→ Physician team licensed in Mexico→ In-house cell processing and release testing→ Multiple allogeneic cell types, matched to your case→ Physician team reviews every case→ Inquiries declined when not a fit→ ~25–30 min Escalade transfer from San Diego, door to door
What brought you here?
A body worth protecting, a joint that's had enough, or a diagnosis no one can explain.
Musculoskeletal
You've been told replacement is next for your knee, hip, shoulder, or back. You're not against surgery. You want it to be the last resort, not the next step.
Explore spine & joint →Longevity
Nothing is broken, and you intend to keep it that way. Keep riding, lifting, and working: maintenance now, not repair later.
Explore IV longevity →Neurologic, cardiovascular & autoimmune
A complex diagnosis, and more specialists than you can count. You want a straight read on whether cell therapy can help.
Explore systemic care →Proprietary cells found nowhere else,
refined over 17 years.
Every clinic you're comparing uses the phrase "stem cell therapy". They sound like the same treatment but in reality are completely different products. Two questions can reveal the differences: who made your cells, and when did anyone last check that they were alive?
The common model
Cells bought from an outside lab
- Frozen vials arrive from a third-party supplier.
- The paperwork shows viability on the day the cells were frozen, months before you arrive.
- Thawed at the bedside and injected, often without anyone looking at the cells again.
- Cells that aren't viable can produce a pro-inflammatory response, the opposite of what's intended.
The Celva model
Cells grown for you in the on-site lab
- Grown and expanded in the cGMP lab at Hospital Angeles, by the same team that treats you.
- Every lot passes six release assays: sterility, identity, viability, potency, endotoxin, mycoplasma.
- Re-checked alive the morning of your treatment: at least 95% viable at infusion, the post-thaw number, not the freeze-date number.
- Full traceability from screened donor to your dose.
The cells, the media, and the process: developed in-house, used nowhere else. The cell product you receive is unique to Celva.
Not a menu. A protocol
tailored to your case.
Will it work for your knee, your energy, your case? That depends on which cells, at what dose, by which route. At Celva that decision is made by physicians reading your imaging, not by a package on a menu.
For calming the whole system
For joints and structure
Bone-marrow MSCs
Adult-donor cells expanded in the lab, biased toward musculoskeletal repair signaling. The workhorse for spine, disc, and joint injections.
For cartilage itself
Chondrocytes
The cells that produce cartilage matrix, added in select knee and hip cases to add the matrix-building capacity that signaling cells alone can't provide.
Most cases combine more than one cell type, same treatment day, at a dose calculated for you. Which cells, in what mix, is a physician's decision made from your imaging and medical history. The cell type is part of the protocol, not a product on a menu.
We won't tell you what you want to hear.
You have read the sites that promise everything. Here is how it works at Celva: the physician team reviews every case before anything is scheduled, and a significant share of inquiries are declined.
- 01Expectations no honest version of this treatment can meet.
- 02Structural severity where surgery is the better option.
- 03Active medical contraindications, where the answer is safety, not policy.
So a yes here means the physician team believes it can meaningfully help, and it comes with a straight forecast: what to expect, when, and what this treatment won't do. If the answer is no, we say it plainly, and tell you why.
Home for dinner.
Treatment is about 25 to 30 minutes from downtown San Diego or the SAN airport, door to door. A Celva driver picks you up at the curb and drives you the whole way, including across the border. No pedestrian crossing, no transfers, medical lane on the return.
You're treated inside Hospital Angeles, a full hospital, not a wellness center. Programs abroad ask for a week for the same treatment that can be completed in an afternoon. With Celva most patients sleep in their own bed the same night.
Hour by hour.
Our team with you for all of it.
01
Reviewed first
A coordinator gathers your history, imaging, and goals. Celva's physician team reviews your case independently and returns a straight recommendation.
Intake → physicians
02
Picked up
Your San Diego hotel or the SAN curb, in a private Escalade. Your driver takes you the whole way, border included.
Celva concierge team
03
Walked through
Vitals, informed consent, and every question answered before anything happens. You meet the team who treats you. Intake is not a formality.
Attending + nursing
04
Treated
IV infusion or image-guided injection in a hospital procedure suite, physician supervised. Your dose was prepared and verified for viability in the lab that morning.
Attending + lab lead
05
Taken home
Concierge transport back once discharge is authorized; most patients are home the same day. Follow-ups at week 1, then months 1, 3, 5, 9, and 12.
Care team + portal
People who stood
where you're standing.
Five real Celva patients, in their own words. No stock footage and no scripts.
The questions everyone asks first.
Most patients research for weeks before reaching out. These are the questions we hear on almost every first call. Straight answers. Not reassurances.
Q.01Why isn't this FDA-approved in the United States?+
MSC therapies are still working through U.S. clinical trials. That process takes years, even for treatments with strong evidence. Hospital Angeles is regulated by COFEPRIS, Mexico's federal regulatory body, where licensed physicians administer cell-based therapies in a fully supervised clinical setting. Patients access the treatment now, under physician oversight, rather than waiting another decade for U.S. approval.
Q.02Is it safe to travel to Tijuana for treatment?+
Most patients ask this, and they should. The Tijuana in the headlines is not the Tijuana you will see. Your day is door to door: picked up at your San Diego hotel or the airport, driven in a private Escalade, treated inside Hospital Angeles (a full hospital, not a wellness center), and returned through the CBP medical lane. We have run this route since 2009. The only Mexico you experience is a car and a hospital, and you are never alone for any of it.
Q.03Where do the cells come from?+
Umbilical cord is our most common source, donated after full-term healthy births and screened against the same panel used for blood and organ donation, but it isn't the only one. We match the cell type to your case, using bone-marrow-derived allogeneic MSCs for orthopedic and structural work, with chondrocytes added in select cartilage cases. The cells are grown in the cGMP lab at Hospital Angeles by Celva's medical team, using a proprietary culture medium and expansion process, and preserved by a proprietary method. Most clinics don't run a lab; they buy frozen vials from an outside supplier. The cells, the medium, and the process are developed in-house and used nowhere else, so the cell product you receive is unique to Celva. They are allogeneic, which means they came from a donor; you don't go through a harvest procedure yourself.
Q.04How do I find out what my treatment would involve?+
Start an intake. A Celva patient coordinator gathers your imaging, history, and goals and passes them to Celva's medical team for independent review. They return a direct read on whether you're a fit and exactly what your treatment path would look like. Nothing is scheduled until that review is complete and you decide to move forward.
Q.05How do I know if I'm a good candidate?+
Honest answer: not everyone is. Our coordinator collects your medical history, current condition, imaging, and goals, and passes it to Celva's medical team for independent review. A significant share of inquiries are declined. If you're not a fit, we'll say so plainly.
Start with a conversation.
No pressure and no commitments. Your first call is with a Celva patient coordinator who collects your information and passes it to Celva's medical team for independent review. Bring every question you have.
These therapies are not FDA-approved. Treatments are performed in Mexico by licensed physicians in a hospital setting. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice.