FDA, New York Attorney General Go After Stem Cell Clinics

Last week marked a flurry of activity to rein in activities by stem cell clinics that give customers unproven interventions. On Wednesday (April 3), the Food and Drug Administration sent letters to 20 companies providing stem cell treatments, reports The New York Times, reminding them that they may require FDA approval and should take action to comply. The agency also issued a warning to a stem cell company for violating good manufacturing practices. Then a day later, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against a stem clinic based in Manhattan.

“Misleading vulnerable consumers who are desperate to find a treatment for serious and painful medical conditions is unacceptable, unlawful, and immoral,” James says in a press release. “We will continue to investigate these types of clinics that shamelessly add to the suffering of these consumers by charging them thousands of dollars for treatments that they know are unproven.” 

The letters and lawsuit are the latest moves by various government agencies to crack down on those who sell unproven stem cell treatments. Last year, the Food...