Makers of Airborne Settle False-Ad Suit With Refunds:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/makers-of-airborne-settle-false-ad-suit-with-refunds/
The company also said it had scientific evidence to support its marketing pitch. But the lawsuit that resulted in the settlement this week was sparked by
an ABC News report last year saying that the clinical trial the company offered as proof of the product’s effectiveness was highly dubious:
Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with “care and professionalism” by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services.
GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors. The man who ran things said he had lots of clinical trial experience. He added that he had a degree from Indiana University, but the school says he never graduated.
Ms. Donahue, the chief executive, responded by dropping the cold-curing claims at once, saying that they were made before she joined the company, and switched to calling Airborne an immune-system-boosting supplement. “The best proof that the product works was that 40,000 customers contact the company every year,” ABC quoted her as saying.
An official at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food health and safety advocacy group that helped bring the lawsuit, disagreed. “There’s no credible evidence that what’s in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment,” David Schardt said in
a news release.
