Blood filtration company that claimed cancer cure ducks most of patients' suit

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A Bay Area medical device company known for developing a blood filter that former patients claim was a “dangerous medical experiment” won’t have to face racketeering, wrongful death and other claims.

U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney dismissed civil RICO, civil RICO conspiracy, negligence, battery and wrongful death claims filed in March 2025 against ExThera Medical Corporation, which is accused by the former patients of falsely marketing its “ONCObind” treatment as a “medical miracle” and a way to cure metastatic cancer.

Chesney, a Bill Clinton appointee, said the plaintiffs did not show enough of a connection between ExThera’s recommendations to undergo the treatment and the plaintiffs’ worsening condition, or that the patients would have survived their cancers had they not undergone ExThera’s treatment.

“Plaintiffs have not alleged, for example, facts showing plaintiffs would not have suffered such worsening conditions had they followed a different course of treatment or had not received the alleged inadequate medical care at the Antigua clinic,” she wrote in the Thursday ruling,

As for the plaintiffs’ RICO claims against ExThera, Chesney found that the company’s reported acts of mail and wire fraud over the span of eight months “falls short of the requisite period of time” to prove a “pattern of racketeering activity.”

The plaintiffs also failed to prove a threat of continued racketeering activity, she said, as the company’s continued offering of the ONCObind procedure by itself “fails to meet the requisite showing of fraud.”

However, the company remains on the hook for claims of fraud and emotional distress.

Chesney rejected ExThera’s efforts to dismiss claims related to statements made by Dr. Sanja Ilic, ExThera’s Chief Regulatory Officer and Vice President of Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs, regarding the success of the procedure in treating tumors during its initial trial in Croatia.

“Plaintiffs, however, have alleged that Dr. Ilic organized and conducted the Croatian trial that the Croatian trial did not yield the results that Dr. Ilic represented to Ms. Hudlow and Ms. Baskin over the phone,” the judge wrote. “Such factual allegations are sufficient to support a finding of falsity and that Dr. Ilic either ‘had actual knowledge of the untruth’ of the above-referenced statements or ‘that the statements were carelessly and recklessly made.’”

Chesney further greenlit product liability claims against the company based on failure to warn patients of the risks that ExThera’s Seraph 100 filters had of clogging and tumor lysis syndrome.

The judge granted the plaintiffs leave to amend for the dismissed claims. They have until June 30 to file an amended complaint.

Chesney also tossed the claims against two defendants associated with billionaire investor Alan Quasha. She said there were jurisdictional issues in the claims against Quadrant Management, Quasha’s private equity firm that invested in ExThera, and Quadrant Clinical Care, the Antigua-based clinic that administered the procedure.

She also found that Dr. Devon Quasha, the billionaire’s daughter who served as Chief Medical Officer of Quadrant Clinical Care and John Preston — an investor at Quadrant Management and a former board member of ExThera Medical whom the plaintiffs say spoke to them about the “miraculous results” of the procedure to them — also lacked personal jurisdiction to the claims.

According to the plaintiffs, while ExThera’s Seraph 100 blood filters initially showed promise for treating Covid-19 during the pandemic, the company found later that it could prove promising for treating cancer by removing circulating tumor cells from their blood. It began offering its “ONCObind” treatment on the Caribbean island of Antigua at the cost of $45,000 per round of treatment.

After treatment began, at least three patients died within days or weeks after leaving the island, the plaintiffs say, with many others becoming sicker and seeing their cancer markers increase.

Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On March 5, the Department of Justice announced charges against Ilic for reportedly concealing adverse events, including at least two patient deaths, from the Food and Drug Administration in connection with its blood filtration device.

According to the government, Ilic agreed to plead guilty and admitted to suppressing information about the device’s “life-threatening” complications to avoid regulatory scrutiny from the government.

Additionally, the government said ExThera admitted, through Ilic, that the company acted with intent to defraud and mislead the FDA, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement in connection with criminal charges filed against the company in Massachusetts.

Under the agreement, ExThera will pay a $750,000 penalty and face forfeiture, along with the requirement to implement compliance and ethics programs to prevent future violations of FDA reporting requirements.

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