Attorney General Doug Peterson filed a Complaint in the District Court of Douglas County against Omaha Stem Cells, LLC, Regenerative Medicine and Anti-Aging Institutes of Omaha, LLC, Stem Cell Centers, LLC and Travis and Emily Autor.
The case relates to the Defendants’ marketing and sale of stem cell therapy to consumers, often following aggressive marketing through local media and in-person seminars throughout Nebraska and Iowa.
The Defendants operated a clinic until recently in Omaha. The Attorney General conducted his investigation in cooperation with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who filed a similar lawsuit in Iowa.
The Attorney General alleges the Defendants made over $2 million by making deceptive and misleading statements to consumers regarding the ability of their stem cell therapy to treat specific diseases and health conditions, including joint pain, back pain, osteoarthritis, neuropathy, and COPD.
The lawsuit also alleges the Defendants misrepresented that stem cell therapy is safe and that larger doses are more effective, without possessing the necessary evidence to make these types of claims.
In his lawsuit, the Attorney General acknowledges prior statements by the FDA that stem cells “have the potential to repair, restore, replace and regenerate cells,” and in the future “could possibly be used to treat many medical conditions and diseases.”
However, stem cell use for most medical conditions remains unproven and, therefore, unapproved by the FDA. In September 2019, the FDA warned consumers that the unapproved use of stem cell treatments can be “particularly unsafe,” and may lead to adverse reactions, such as the failure of cells to function as expected and tumor growth.
Unfortunately, this warning may have come too late for some consumers in Nebraska. In December 2019, the FDA issued a more specific Public Safety Notification regarding multiple reports of serious adverse events experienced by patients in Nebraska who were treated with unapproved products marketed as containing exosomes.
According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, the Defendants were advertising and administering unapproved exosome products to consumers.
Consumers in Nebraska, and across the country, need to heed these warnings when it comes to stem cell products. According to the Attorney General, Travis and Emily Autor operate a network of companies across the country that advertise and sell stem cell therapy directly to consumers.
In addition to their clinic in Omaha, the Autors have been affiliated with clinics located in Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. ■