United States v. Regenerative Sciences, LLC

741 F.3d 1314, 408 U.S. App. D.C. 259, 2014 WL 393602, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2077
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedFebruary 4, 2014
Docket12-5254
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 741 F.3d 1314 (United States v. Regenerative Sciences, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Regenerative Sciences, LLC, 741 F.3d 1314, 408 U.S. App. D.C. 259, 2014 WL 393602, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2077 (D.C. Cir. 2014).

Opinion

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge GRIFFITH.

GRIFFITH, Circuit Judge:

In this civil enforcement action, we must decide whether the appellants — three individuals and a related corporate entity— violated federal laws regulating the manufacture and labeling of drugs and biological products by producing, as part of their medical practice, a substance consisting of a mixture of a patient’s stem cells and the antibiotic doxycycline. Because we conclude that they did, we affirm the district court’s judgment and the permanent injunction it entered against appellants.

I

A

This case involves two statutes under which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the healthcare industry: the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA), 21 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., and the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), 42 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. Those statutes promote the safety of drugs and biological products, respectively, by setting forth detailed requirements for how such substances are to be manufactured and labeled. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 351 (FDCA manufacturing requirements), 352 (FDCA labeling requirements); 42 U.S.C. § 262(j) (incorporating by reference most of the FDCA’s provisions, including its manufacturing and labeling requirements, into the PHSA). Drugs and biological products not satisfying those requirements are deemed “adulterated” or “misbranded,” see 21 U.S.C. §§ 351, 352, 353(b)(4); 42 U.S.C. § 262(j), and doing any act that causes a drug or biological product to be adulterated or misbranded is a violation of federal law, 21 U.S.C. § 331(k); 42 U.S.C. § 262(j). The FDA may seek an injunction to prohibit such violations. 21 U.S.C. § 332(a); 42 U.S.C. § 262(j).

B

The substance at issue in this case is produced by appellants Dr. Christopher Centeno, Dr. John Schultz, Michelle Cheever, and Regenerative Sciences, LLC, as part of a medical therapy that they market as the “Cultured Regenexx Procedure” (the Procedure). Drs. Centeno and Schultz, who practice medicine together at the Centeno-Schultz Clinic in Colorado, jointly developed the Procedure to treat patients’ orthopedic conditions. They are the majority shareholders of Regenerative *1318 Sciences, which they founded and which, in turn, owns the Procedure and licenses it exclusively to the Centeno-Schultz Clinic. Michelle Cheever is the laboratory director for Regenerative Sciences.

The Procedure begins with the extraction of a sample of a patient’s bone marrow or synovial fluid. From that sample, Regenerative Sciences isolates mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are capable of differentiating into bone and cartilage cells. The MSCs are then placed in a solution to culture them — that is, to cause them to divide and proliferate. Other substances are sometimes added to the solution that affect the MSCs’ differentiation. The culturing process determines the growth and biological characteristics of the resulting cell population. When the MSCs are sufficiently numerous for re-injection, they are combined with doxycycline, an antibiotic obtained in interstate commerce and used to prevent bacterial contamination of the MSCs. The resulting mixture (the Mixture) is injected into the patient from whom the stem cell sample was initially taken, at the site of the damaged tissue.

Appellants promote the Procedure as an alternative to surgery for various orthopedic conditions and diseases. In court filings, they have described the Procedure as a “treatment [for] orthopedic injuries and arthritis” and for “musculoskeletal and spinal injury.” Their promotional materials recommend the Procedure for treatment of osteoarthritis, non-healing bone fractures, chronic bulging lumbar discs, and soft tissue injuries.

In August 2010, the government filed this action for a permanent injunction against appellants, alleging that the Mixture is both a drug and a biological product that is adulterated and misbranded in violation of § 331(k) of the FDCA and § 262(j) of the PHSA, which incorporates § 331(k) by reference. Appellants counterclaimed, asserting that the Mixture is not subject to federal regulation and that, even if it is, the FDA’s effort to regulate the Mixture is defective under both the PHSA and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).

The district court granted the government’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed appellants’ counterclaims, holding that they had violated the FDCA and the PHSA. United States v. Regenerative Scis., LLC, 878 F.Supp.2d 248, 263 (D.D.C.2012). Then, finding a “cognizable danger of a recurrent violation,” the district court entered a permanent injunction prohibiting appellants from committing further violations of the FDCA’s adulteration and misbranding restrictions. Id. at 262-63 (internal quotation marks omitted). Appellants timely appealed both orders.

We have jurisdiction to review the district court’s orders under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the grant of summary judgment and dismissal of appellants’ counterclaims de novo, “drawing all reasonable inferences from the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party,” Geleta v. Gray, 645 F.3d 408, 410 (D.C.Cir.2011), and affirming only if “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). We review the district court’s entry of a permanent injunction for abuse of discretion and its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 566 F.3d 1095, 1110 (D.C.Cir.2009) (per curiam).

II

Appellants’ principal argument is that the Mixture is not subject to regulation under the FDCA or PHSA because it is neither a drug nor a biological product *1319 but is, rather, a medical procedure. The text of those statutes forecloses this argument.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
741 F.3d 1314, 408 U.S. App. D.C. 259, 2014 WL 393602, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2077, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-regenerative-sciences-llc-cadc-2014.