Doctor in Laetrile Case Wins Round in Court
A doctor who was convicted and later pardoned in a case involving the purported cancer drug Laetrile won a round in court Monday in a fight to keep his license. The U. S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered a federal judge in Los Angeles to reconsider Dr. James Privitera’s request to block a California Medical Board hearing on the possible revocation of his license.
The court said that Privitera had presented evidence of alleged harassment by the board and was entitled to seek an end to the proceedings. Privitera now practices “holistic medicine” in West Covina, according to his lawyer.
Privitera was convicted in 1975 of conspiring to sell and prescribe Laetrile, an apricot-pit derivative that was marketed as a treatment or cure for cancer. It is now outlawed as a medicine in California. His felony conviction was reversed by a state appeals court but reinstated in 1979. Then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. pardoned Privitera in 1982.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
