Disease Claims Lead To Warning Letter

FDA issued a warning letter yesterday for Spanish language disease claims made on product labels and the company’s website. Examples of these claims include “cancer,” “antiviral,” and “arthritis.”

Surprisingly, there have only been a small number of warning letters for dietary supplements issued by the FDA this year, which is why I was so excited to read this letter today. 

In April of this year, FDA purchased supplements from this company by calling the phone number listed on the website. Typically, FDA issues warning letters by simply flagging the online claims without purchasing products. I wonder if this is part of the continued adulterant testing of Spanish-language joint health products that are also making over-the-top disease claims such as these. 

This warning letter is a great example of claims to avoid, such as “diabetes,” “hypertension,” “antiviral,” and “prevent infections.” Read the full letter here. 

This letter shows that all products, even those in other languages, are fair game for scrutiny. 

This company’s website appears to be shut down, which seems to happen frequently when small companies get warning letters. Do you think this is enough to dissuade companies from making serious disease claims about their products?