Comment on Gradel denies present involvement in stem cell clinic accused of blinding patient

Ted Gradel of Naperville, who is one of seven GOP candidates running in the March primary for the 14th Congressional District seat, denied any involvement in the operations or decisions of a stem cell clinic he invested in that is subject to multiple lawsuits. “It’s truly the only thing people have found to attack me on,” Gradel said during a Northwest Herald Editorial Board interview Wednesday. US Stem Cell Clinic LLC is the subject of a federal lawsuit claiming that some of their drugs were adulterated or misbranded. An injunction accused Gradel and the company’s chief scientific officer, Kristin Comella, of “marketing stem cell products to patients without FDA approval and while violating good manufacturing practice requirements, including some that could impact the sterility of their products, putting patients at risk.” Comella and the LLC also were named in a lawsuit filed in 2017 by a former patient who claimed that a “stem cell” medical product was injected into her eyes during a clinical trial, causing her permanent blindness. Gradel said he had become involved in stem cell treatment after experiencing knee and hip issues 8 to 10 years ago.