A Scottish man with multiple sclerosis (MS) claims to be pain-free for the first time in 12 years after a controversial stem-cell procedure in a Co Cork clinic, which is at the centre of an investigation.

Mark Westwell, 45, from Skye received the treatment pioneered by a Swiss biotechnology company, Advanced Cell Therapeutics, earlier this month. His wife said he has been transformed.

The Swiss company is understood to be operating from a doctor’s surgery in Carrigaline. It is currently being investigated by the Irish Medicines Board, because the treatment it offers is not licensed in Ireland.

Westwell’s wife Carole, 43, said this weekend the impact of the €18,000 treatment was “dramatic and astounding” and occurred almost immediately. She called on the Irish government to allow the treatment to continue, claiming her husband is proof it works.

“Mark has suffered terribly from his condition,” she said. “He has experienced intense pain and described it at times as though an articulated lorry was crushing his leg.

“Now, although he is suffering from a relapse and having to travel to and from Ireland, the distressing symptoms of his condition, the pain in particular, are gone.”

Westwell was diagnosed with MS in 1987 and is confined to a wheelchair. The couple learnt of the treatment last year and were due to travel to Rotterdam for the operation, but switched to Ireland when it became available there.

Neighbours of theirs on the island of Skye raised part of the cost of the surgery.

Some medical professionals say the treatment is possibly unsafe and the clinic is offering false hope to patients and charging large amounts of money in the process.

The stem-cell treatment involves transferring cells from healthy parts of the body to replace or repair unhealthy cells.

It is not licensed in Ireland or Britain because both governments say not enough is known about the long-term effects.

“There is no scientific evidence that this treatment works,” said Brian Sweeney, a consultant neurologist at Cork University hospital and a member of the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience.

“Even its basis, whereby stem-cell material is injected under the skin and is then supposed to travel to the brain and repair damage caused by MS more or less overnight, makes little sense. There is no evidence that it is effective or safe.”

He said that if the claims being made about the procedure were true, Advanced Cell Therapeutics would have won “numerous medical awards”.

“There is a danger that people will think doctors like me are trying to play down something that we are not involved in, but this is not the case.

“An anecdotal story involving one person who experiences some changes is not evidence of a treatment that works.”

He said people who undergo the therapy may experience a “placebo effect” and believe it has worked because “they have paid a lot of money and want it to work”.

Advanced Cell Therapeutics did not respond to inquiries from The Sunday Times.

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal