Santa Cruz, CA: An Unfair business practices lawsuit against dietary supplement distributors Iovate Health Sciences Inc., and Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc., look certain to be settled as the companies have agreed to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and costs. This is reportedly the second largest multidistrict attorney dietary supplement settlement of its kind in California.
The lawsuit was brought by the District Attorney's Office in Santa Cruz, Napa, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Orange, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano and Sonoma counties, alleging the company engaged in false and misleading advertising of dietary supplements, including Accelis, nanoSLIM, Cold MD, Germ MD, EZ-Swallow Rapid-Tabs, Germ MD Effervescent Tablets, Allergy MD and Allergy MD Rapid-Tabs.
The lawsuit also alleged a violation of Proposition 65, which requires a warning label on products exposing the consumer to more than one-half microgram of lead per day. Laboratory tests revealed certain lots of the Cold MD exceeded the lead limit. Iovate stopped selling Cold MD in 2008. The lawsuit alleged Cold MD was an unapproved new drug, and thus illegal to sell under California law.
