Doctor who filed a SLAPP lawsuit against Dr. Steven Novella and SBM charged with deceptive advertising

• June 1, 2015
• criminal justice  
• science  
• cranks  
• medicine  

Consumer Health Digest #15-21 by Stephen Barrett, M.D. who runs the Quackwatch web site just arrived in my inbox and contained some welcome news:

The Medical Board of California has charged Edward L. Tobinick, M.D. with advertising improperly that his clinic offers “revolutionary” and “breakthrough” treatment that can enable patients with strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic neurological conditions to improve rapidly—often within a few minutes—after receiving his injections. Tobinick, who operates the Institute of Neurological Recovery (INR), with offices in Boca Raton, Florida and Los Angeles, California, has for many years offered to treat spine-related pain and various neurological conditions with Enbrel (etanercept), a drug that is FDA-approved for other purposes. He and several other authors have published many papers supporting his off-label use, but his work remains controversial. The accusation document states that the ads “contained misrepresentation of facts, were likely to mislead or deceive, created false or unjustified expectations, and/or make scientific claims that cannot be substantiated by reliable, peer reviewed, published scientific studies.” In 2006, he settled previous allegations related his marketing of Enbrel by agreeing to serve a year on probation. Last year, Tobinick filed a suit against Steven Novella, M.D. for criticizing his advertising claims.

This is likely to be welcome news to Dr. Novella, the Science Based Medicine organization, and other entities being sued by Dr. Tobinick. See my previous post on that Tobinick’s SLAPP lawsuit.