A long-running lawsuit against StemGenex, a defunct La Jolla clinic that offered fat-derived stem cell treatments for a host of ailments, has been settled for $3.65 million.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia approved the settlement late last month, with insurance for the bankrupt clinic and an associated osteopathic doctor paying the settlement amount. The class-action lawsuit covered 1,063 patients.
The suit, initially filed in August 2016, accused StemGenex of wrongfully exaggerating patient satisfaction in the marketing of its stem cell treatments for seriously ill or disabled people. The four lead plaintiffs sought treatment for lupus, diabetes and spine and joint pain.
While StemGenex claimed 100 percent satisfaction in its marketing materials, many people who received treatment complained that it was ineffective.
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StemGenex’s high satisfaction rate was based on a survey taken shortly after patients completed a liposuction procedure that harvested fat cells, according to the lawsuit. Those cells were then processed and injected back into patients as stem cells intended to help with a long list of conditions, including Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s, rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson’s.
However, patients reported the…
