Michael Hiltzik: In blow to public health, judge tosses FDA lawsuit targeting a clinic offering unproven stem cell treatments

A federal judge in Riverside, California, declared a stem cell treatment firm operating in the state to be exempt from Food and Drug Administration regulations, opening the door to the further proliferation of clinics offering therapies the FDA says are scientifically unproven and potentially dangerous.

In the ruling issued late Tuesday, Judge Jesus G. Bernal of Riverside declined to block California Stem Cell Treatment Center from continuing to offer purported stem cell treatments to customers.

Bernal accepted the center's position that its treatments qualified for an exception from FDA regulations, in part because they were tantamount to surgical procedures.

Bernal's ruling, which came more than a year after a seven-day trial in May.