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FTC Sues Promoters of Top-Selling Xenadrine EFX

July 15, 2005
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a federal district court complaint charging the promoters of the popular dietary supplement Xenadrine EFX with making misleading weight loss claims.

Xenadrine EFX contains, among other ingredients, green tea extract, yerba mate, and bitter orange. A 120-tablet bottle – a one-month supply – retails for approximately $40. Since its introduction in 2002, Xenadrine EFX’s sales have topped $160 million.

According to the FTC, promoters advertised Xenadrine EFX heavily in print and on TV, including in such publications as People, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Let’s Live, Men’s Fitness, and Women’s World. They also disseminated Spanish language ads for Xenadrine EFX.

The advertisements claimed that Xenadrine EFX causes rapid and substantial weight and fat loss, such weight loss without the need to diet or exercise, permanent or long-term weight loss, and is clinically proven to work. The ads relied heavily on testimonials from supposedly satisfied customers, some of whom claimed to have lost over 100 pounds.

The complaint names Robert Chinery, Jr., Tracy Chinery, and their company, RTC Research & Development, LLC, alleging that the New Jersey-based Chinery defendants made false and unsubstantiated claims for Xenadrine EFX, including that it was clinically proven to cause rapid and substantial weight loss and clinically proven to be more effective than leading ephedrine-based diet products.

According to the complaint, Robert Chinery commissioned several studies of Xenadrine EFX, none of which showed substantial weight loss. The complaint alleges that in one of these studies, subjects taking Xenadrine EFX lost an average of only 1.5 pounds over the 10-week study, while a control group taking a placebo lost an average of 2.5 pounds over the same period.

The complaint also alleges that the defendants falsely represented that persons appearing in the ads achieved the reported weight loss solely by using Xenadrine EFX. According to the FTC complaint, consumer endorsers, in fact, lost weight by engaging in rigorous diet and/or exercise programs. The complaint alleges that the defendants also failed to disclose that the endorsers were paid from $1,000 to $20,000 in connection with their testimonials.

Another company controlled by the Chinery defendants, Nutraquest, was not named in the complaint; it is currently in bankruptcy and facing numerous product liability, class action, and advertising claims relating to an ephedra product, Xenadrine RFA-1.

In addition, the Commission has accepted a consent agreement with another group of entities, Cytodyne, LLC, Evergood Products Corp., and Melvin Rich, all of New York. They have entered into an administrative settlement with the FTC.

The consent order requires the respondents to pay $100,000 to the FTC. It also prohibits the Rich respondents from claiming that Xenadrine EFX or any other substantially similar product causes rapid and substantial weight or fat loss and prohibits the claim that any weight-loss product causes rapid and substantial weight loss without diet or exercise.

The settlement further prohibits the respondents from claiming that any weight-loss product, dietary supplement, food, drug, or device causes weight or fat loss, causes permanent or long-term weight loss, or causes users to lose weight or fat without diet or exercise unless they have competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the claims.

It also requires that the respondents have competent and reliable scientific evidence for any claims they make about the health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety, or side effects of any such product and prohibits them from misrepresenting any test, study, or research for any such product.

In addition, the settlement prohibits the respondents from misrepresenting the experience described in any user testimonials for any weight loss product, dietary supplement, food, drug or device. It requires the respondents to disclose any material connection – including monetary payments – between the endorser and the respondents or any person or entity involved in manufacturing, marketing, or selling the product.

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