A South Korean company that offers to send clients overseas for controversial stem-cell treatments has opened an outpost in L.A.'s Koreantown — the first such office in the area, the Los Angeles Business Journal reports.

Because such treatments have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, RNL Bio Co. Ltd. sends its L.A. customers to its “partner facilities” in China, Japan and Tijuana to get fat cells sucked out of their bodies, processed for regeneration, and re-injected.

While many have touted the possible benefits of stem-cell therapy, research still needs to be done to prove that this stuff works. RNL's treatments have reportedly been linked to two deaths.

But people, particularly those with degenerative diseases such as cancer, are desperate for cures.

And RNL at least delivers hope to its mostly Korean and Korean-American clients. The company states it has sent about 120 people off to its partner clinics for treatment.

Jin Han Hong, president of the company's U.S. subsidiary, tells the Journal:

“FDA approval will take years, and so many people who are suffering from degenerative diseases or the aging process cannot wait. I'm not trying to take advantage of desperate patients, but if the patient wants to go to another country to receive stem cells, which is not available in the United States, then that is just one option.”

RNL's office is in the Koreatown Galleria at West Olympic Boulevard and South Western Avenue.

[Spotted at Curbed LA].