State attorneys general have done a good job addressing the stem cell clinic problem locally. They’ve increasingly taken action on unproven stem cells and related firms. In some ways, they’ve been more effective than the feds.
The AG successes have been particularly important given the uneven activity from the FDA and FTC.
Iowa AG wins on stem cell clinic
Now the Iowa AG has a new $1 million win against what we might broadly call a “stem cell” clinic. The quotation marks here are needed as it’s often doubtful as to whether the products sold are actual stem cells.
Here’s the news: Iowa Attorney General announces $1 million win in civil court against scam stem cell treatment company. Note the use of the word “scam” in the headline. From Yahoo, “The Polk County District Court found Travis Broughton and his companies Omaha Stem Cells, and Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha liable for approximately $1 million.”
I wrote in 2020 about the beginnings of some AG activity on stem cells including in Iowa.
Details of the Iowa case
The new case centers on someone named Travis Autor or Travis Broughton:
“The Polk County District Court found Travis Broughton and his companies Omaha Stem Cells, and Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha liable for approximately $1 million.”
From Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird:
“So we sued a company that was basically marketing snake oil to people with serious medical conditions. They were saying it was stem cells and it would cure them, and that was deceptive and false…We took them to court and we just got the judge’s decision which gave people their money back that was taken from them for these fake treatments.”
It’s great to see local authorities taking action like this that affects clinics and their owners financially.
State & local vs. FDA
It’s still a mystery to me why the FDA has not hit clinics and suppliers with big fines. As best as I can tell, the agency is authorized to do this. My impression is that clinics pay more attention when fines are in play.
There has been other state or local level activity. I just wrote earlier about three being charged with felonies related to a stem cell clinic in Utah.
More broadly, we also have the anti-FDA state laws pressuring things the other direction.
Clinics across multiple states
“Seventy-six Iowans from 2018 through 2020 received what they believed were stem cell injections to heal medical conditions or find relief from chronic pain. The court ruled that all 76 Iowans must be reimbursed by the company, to the total sum of $810,477. Broughton was also given the maximum penalty under each violation the judge found, a total of $160,000, plus an extra $20,000 for the violations committed against older Iowans.”
It’s also not unusual to see clinic operators going by multiple names or changing their names. The business names often change as well or some of those operating clinics have multiple business names.
It makes sense to me that the AGs have mainly focused on clinics selling perinatal material and those with links to chiropractors or other non-physicians. There are big risks there.
The state AGs have been focusing on civil cases as well as marketing and getting large settlements. I keep hoping we’ll see action like this here in California. It could be state or even more local officials, but so far nothing significant has been announced.