The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has launched a lawsuit against a Seattle-based company for “deceptively marketing stem cell treatments for COVID-19 and dozens of other serious medical conditions”.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed the lawsuit against the company US Stemology and its owner Dr Tami Meraglia because there is “no reliable clinical evidence stem cell therapy can effectively treat these conditions”.
The company is accused of “deceptively marketing stem cell treatments” for asthma, lupus, Parkinson’s, congestive heart failure, multiple sclerosis, COVID-19 and other conditions.
In a statement on 15th March, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office said: “The company, which runs the Seattle Stem Cell Center in lower Queen Anne, charged 107 people a total of USD 748,250 for these unsubstantiated treatments.
“The company charged its clients as much as USD 10,000, out of pocket, for participating in the clinic’s purported ‘patient funded research’.
“US Stemology claimed it was treating patients as part of clinical trials. In reality, the ‘trials’ did not follow generally accepted standards of scientific research – and the researchers themselves led the ‘independent review’ of the trials.
“Ferguson’s lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, asserts US Stemology violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act by deceptively marketing stem cell treatments for serious conditions without scientific evidence.
“The lawsuit seeks civil penalties and asks the court to order US Stemology and Meraglia to pay full restitution to consumers.”
Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: “Dr. Meraglia and US Stemology advertised stem cells as a life-changing miracle cure that could treat almost anything – even COVID.
“They preyed on people’s fears and frustrations about their health to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in unproven treatments. Their conduct brings to mind a 21st century version of snake-oil sales tactics.”
The statement continued: “The Attorney General’s Office was first alerted to this case when a concerned Washingtonian reported the company’s false claims that it could treat and prevent COVID-19. The company made these claims for at least three months in the early stages of the pandemic.
“After the Attorney General’s Office sent a cease and desist letter, the company removed from its website the claims that stem cells are effective against COVID-19.
“While looking into the consumer complaint, investigators at the Attorney General’s Office discovered that the company claimed it could treat dozens of other conditions – including serious heart, autoimmune and neurological conditions – without reliable scientific evidence that stem cell treatments are effective in treating them.
“US Stemology began marketing that it could treat these conditions starting as early as 2018. Meraglia began the stem cell clinic out of the basement of the medispa she owned, which mostly performed aesthetic and cosmetic treatments at the time.
“The Seattle Stem Cell Center performed its stem cell ‘treatments’ on over a hundred patients for a host of serious, chronic conditions, including asthma, muscular dystrophy, stroke, diabetes and Crohn’s disease.”
The Attorney General’s Office said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved stem cell treatments for certain blood disorders, “but these procedures use a different cell type than what US Stemology used”, adding: “The FDA has not approved stem cell treatments for any other condition. Health insurance plans generally do not cover stem cell treatments.
“After the Attorney General’s Office began its investigation, US Stemology stopped taking new stem cell patients in June 2021. Many of the deceptive treatment claims remain listed on its website.
“US Stemology operated illegitimate ‘clinical trials’ to mislead patients into agreeing to unproven treatments
“Instead of paying patients to participate in a trial, like most legitimate trials do, US Stemology charged patients thousands of dollars to undergo experimental treatments. In addition, the ‘trial’ the company ran was marred by conflict of interest and shoddy scientific practices.
“The FDA requires clinical trials be approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board, or IRB. Per FDA requirements, members of IRBs cannot have an interest in a project they are reviewing. Universities and large research institutions operate most IRBs.”
The statement added: “US Stemology’s trial was under the supervision of an IRB operated by the International Cell Surgical Society. Two of the primary researchers listed on the US Stemology trials were also principal officers of the International Cell Surgical Society when it approved the trials.
“In addition to this clear conflict of interest, the trials themselves did not follow accepted standards of research. For example, the trials did not use a control group or a standard course of treatment for each patient, and relied solely on patient surveys to assess results.
“Instead of performing legitimate clinical research, US Stemology used a biased, self-interested IRB to mislead patients to believe that they were participating in ‘clinical research’ – when they were, in reality, paying to receive unproven medical treatments.”
The lawsuit asks the court to require US Stemology to “stop its unlawful conduct, including all unsubstantiated claims about stem cells”, and “pay full restitution back to patients who paid for treatments at the Seattle Stem Cell Center, a total of at least USD 748,250”.
The Attorney General’s Office added that the company has to “pay USD 12,500 total in civil penalties for each violation of the Consumer Protection Act, including enhanced civil penalties of USD 5,000 per violation because US Stemology’s misleading claims targeted people with disabilities.
“The Attorney General’s Office estimates that the penalties in this case could total in the millions of dollars.
“Assistant Attorneys General Daniel Davies and Logan Starr, investigators Anton Forbes and Eric Peters, paralegal Rosa Hernandez and legal assistant Michelle Paules are working on the case.”
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: William McGee, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
