The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a public warning that “unscrupulous actors” may be taking advantage of patients by offering an unproven, even dangerous medical procedure — transfusions of plasma from young donors — as a treatment for everything from the normal effects of aging to Alzheimer’s disease. As the FDA notes, there are no proven benefits to this treatment, but plasma infusions, particularly large infusions like those often used in these young-donor “treatments” carry the risk of infection, allergic reactions, infectious disease, lung damage, and circulatory overload or other cardiovascular harm.
“Simply put, we’re concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors touting treatments of plasma from young donors as cures and remedies.” Said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks, in a joint statement. “Such treatments have no proven clinical benefits for the uses for which these clinics are advertising them and are potentially harmful. There are reports of bad actors charging thousands of dollars for infusions that are unproven and not guided by evidence from adequate and well-controlled trials. The promotion of plasma for these unproven purposes could also discourage patients suffering from serious or intractable illnesses from receiving safe and effective treatments that may be available to them.”
The attorneys of Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber, LLP are currently investigating claims connected to these potentially fraudulent treatments. If you or a loved one has received this type of treatment, you may have been the victim of false advertising or other deceptive activity. Please contact us to discuss your legal options.