Charges Against Founder of Genetic Testing Company Dropped
/By Pat Anson, PNN Editor
The U.S. Department of Justice has quietly dropped criminal charges against the founder and CEO of Proove Biosciences, a genetic testing company based in California that was accused of paying physicians over $3.5 million in illegal kickbacks. A judge dismissed the case against Brian Meshkin and five other defendants last month “in the interests of justice” after federal prosecutors declined to move forward with the case.
“There has been so much injustice over the past 6 years that it is wonderful to see truth prevail. I am excited to have the opportunity to set the record straight and to move forward from here with my head held high,” Meshkin said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego declined to comment on the case being dismissed, according to The Orange County Register.
Proove specialized in genetic testing of pain patients and claimed its DNA tests could determine how well they metabolized opioid medication and if they were at risk of abuse. The company claimed that 94% of patients experienced significant pain relief within 60 days of treatment changes based on their test results.
Proove’s aggressive marketing included millions of dollars in “research fees” paid to physicians who ordered its tests, a practice that ran afoul of federal kickback laws. In 2017, the company’s headquarters in Irvine, CA was raided by FBI agents and Proove was placed into a court-ordered receivership – a form of bankruptcy – when its business collapsed.
The former vice-president of marketing for Proove plead guilty in 2020 to paying illegal kickbacks. The following year, the National Spine & Pain Center in Maryland agreed to pay $5.1 million in restitution to Medicare as part of a criminal settlement for taking kickbacks from Proove.
Meshkin blamed the company's legal and financial problems on “erroneous and damaging” reports by STAT News, which detailed how physicians could make up to $144,000 a year if they funneled their patients’ genetic tests to Proove.
“This work was destroyed by misinformation spread by a handful of disgruntled ex-employees and contractors, spread by the media, and blindly adopted by some in the Southern District of California office of the U.S. Attorney and the FBI,” Meshkin said.
“That misinformation and false and defamatory allegations directed at Proove hurt thousands of people beyond the company itself, including the many patients and their families who have died from or whose lives were impacted by opioid overdoses and suicide that could have been prevented with access to Proove’s life-saving technology.”
Many questions remain about the effectiveness of the tests. A genetic expert told STAT News the company’s testing claims were “hogwash” and said they exploited fears about opioid addiction. A Montana pain patient who took the test and followed Proove’s treatment advice said they didn’t work for her.
“To me it was a waste of time and money. The meds it said I should be taking either didn’t work, stopped working, or made me sick. And the meds I should not be taking, I do just fine on,” she told PNN in 2017.
