The Food and Drug Administration has launched an opening salvo at a booming national market for suspect medical treatments, announcing actions that could rein in clinics offering questionable stem-cell treatments for cancer and other diseases.
The FDA’s initial targets were a pair of California Stem Cell Treatment Centers in Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage; StemImmune Inc. of San Diego; and the US Stem Cell Clinic of Sunrise, Fla.
Taking what it called “decisive action” to protect patients, the FDA on Friday dispatched U.S. marshals to the California clinics and seized close to 500 doses of smallpox vaccine supplied by StemImmune.
