“Hormone Booster” Firms To Pay Largest Ever FTC Health Fraud Settlement

Marketers of products deceptively claiming to increase human growth hormone (HGH) levels are required to pay up to $20 mil. in consumer redress under a settlement, the Federal Trade Commission announced June 9.

Destin, Fla.-based corporations Great American Products and Physician's Choice and related defendants will immediately pay $6.5 mil. into a consumer redress program set up by the commission. The defendants could be required to pay up to $13.5 mil. more depending upon consumer redress requests.

The sum represents the largest judgment ever obtained in an FTC health fraud case, the agency said.

The settlement also includes an "avalanche clause," bringing the liability up to $80 mil. in the event defendants misrepresented their financial situation.

Dietary supplements and sprays marketed under brands such as Ultimate HGH, Super HGH Booster, Master HGH and Super HGH carried false claims they boosted HGH levels, FTC alleged in a complaint filed May 10 in Northern Florida federal court.

Promotional materials for the products carried claims of "reduced fat, cholesterol and blood pressure, increased muscle mass and improved cognitive, immune and sexual function," FTC said.

The complaint also challenged claims for other products, including Fat Blaster, Super Carbo Blocker and Wild Oregano Oil products, and alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

Defendants are barred under the agreement from making unsubstantiated claims for their products, misrepresenting test results and violating the TSR.

The case was originally referred to the FTC by infomercial watchdog Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program, a division of the National Advertising Review Council, in September 2004 (¹ 'The Tan Sheet' Sept. 20, 2004, In Brief).

The trade commission is ramping up enforcement of false HGH product claims. In a same-day announcement, the agency stated it recently has issued letters to more than 90 Internet-based HGH marketers.