Three people have been arrested and a fourth is being sought by the FBI in connection with what researchers say $ 1.5-million Texas-based scheme to illegally market and sell a stem cell treatment of patients with terminal illness.
Man arrested for 10 days on the basis of two charges issued in November charging fourth with 39 counts of mail fraud against the legal manufacture, distribute and sell their stem cells and stem cell procedure that is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a statement.
“These Charges demonstrate the commitment of the FDA to protect the American public from the harms that are attached to the exposed unapproved new drugs,” said Patrick j. Holland, the agent responsible for FDA’S Office of criminal investigations, according to a statement. “The FDA will continue to aggressively pursue the perpetrators of such acts and ensure that they are punished to the full extent of the law.”
One of the four, Vincent Dammai, 40, of Mount Pleasant, SC, is a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina who allegedly used the University facilities for creating stem cells without obtaining permission from the FDA.