CA Lawyer Normal Reaches $200K Settlement with San Diego Biotech Firm

A San Diego-based biotechnology firm has agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that it made deceptive claims to healthcare suppliers and sufferers relating to the price of its genetic testing companies, the California Lawyer Normal’s Workplace introduced Monday.

The settlement introduced by California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta‘s workplace requires Biora Therapeutics Inc., previously Progenity Inc., to pay $200,000 in penalties and wipes out all excellent money owed for California shoppers for the corporate’s genetic testing companies.

The corporate, which supplied checks to display screen for elevated dangers of most cancers and different ailments that may very well be handed from mum or dad to little one, “marketed and marketed its testing companies with false and deceptive representations regarding the prices of its companies, in violation of California’s Unfair Competitors Regulation and False Promoting Regulation,” Bonta’s workplace mentioned.

The settlement reached in Sacramento County Superior Court docket holds that Biora will present discover to all Californians whose debt is now waived, which accounts for 465 shoppers who owed greater than $575,000, together with curiosity and late charges. The corporate can be prohibited from accepting any additional funds from any California resident who paid for its companies and can’t share the shoppers’ info with credit score reporting businesses or assortment companies.

“Firms have a duty to make sure claims about their merchandise’ prices are totally correct,” mentioned Bonta. “At the moment’s settlement holds Biora to account for its misleading promoting and shields its clients from monetary hurt.”

The corporate has since shuttered its genetics lab and pivoted to drug analysis and growth.

Metropolis Information Service contributed to this text.