The stem cell industry has scored a major victory in its efforts to keep patient treatments exempt from Food and Drug Administration regulations, brushing aside the regulatory agency’s concerns that the therapies are unproven and could be dangerous.

The FDA made that argument in 2018 when it sought court orders to stop the Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage offices of the California Stem Cell Treatment Center from administering the treatments. The move was part of a yearslong FDA crackdown on clinics nationally claiming that stem cells can treat or cure conditions including orthopedic injuries, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, multiple sclerosis, and erectile dysfunction.