CBC- Children's vitamins with Disney and Marvel brands were marketed using false and misleading claims, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says — ordering three companies to pay more than $2 million in restitution.

The companies are NBTY Inc., a global manufacturer of vitamins and nutritional supplements, and two of its marketing arms, Rexall Sundown and NatureSmart. They were charged with making deceptive claims in the packaging and marketing of various children's vitamins branded with Disney and Marvel action heroes.

Rexall Sundown is a wholly owned subsidiary of NBTY and is not associated with the Rexall drugstore chain in Canada, which is owned by Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, which investigated the misleading claims, the drug manufacturer and marketers overstated the quantity and efficacy of docosahexaenoic acid — an omega-3 fatty acid — in the children's vitamins.

The vitamins’ packaging said they contained 100 milligrams of DHA, when in fact they contained about one-thousandth of that amount.

The vitamins also overstated the health benefits of DHA by claiming the supplements promoted healthy brain and eye development in children.

Among the lines of vitamins found to contain misleading claims were multivitamins and gummies branded Disney Princess, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo and Spiderman.

The vitamins were sold at major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kmart and Walgreens in the U.S., and at Canadian drug stores such as Shoppers Drug Mart, as well as online through drugstore.com and other websites.

Under a settlement agreement with the FTC, the companies are barred from making unsubstantiated claims. Any claims made in the future will have to be supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.

The American consumer protection agency will also administer a refund program, available only to U.S. purchasers of the products, valued at about $2.1 million.

CBC- There is growing concern among health experts about the level of influence the drug industry has on doctors' medical decisions.

Adam Hofmann, a Montreal physician and pharmaceutical industry watchdog, says most doctors are oblivious to the extent to which their decisions on patient health care are influenced by drug companies.

Hofmann, a recent graduate now working as an internal medicine specialist at Montreal’s Sacre Coeur hospital, founded the McGill University chapter of the U.S. not-for-profit group No Free Lunch while still a medical student.

The group’s aim is to try to end the practice of accepting "freebies" from drug firms in the name of continuing medical education.

Hofmann figures it’s possible to eat free nearly every day of the week in a teaching hospital like the McGill University Health Centre — and some medical residents, saddled with debt, take full advantage of that.

But he brown-bagged it on principle, from the moment he realized how hard it was to stay at arm’s-length from people with something to sell him.

Hofmann estimates as much as 70 per cent of continuing medical education activities in Canada — from hospital rounds to conferences — are sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry, which he says has a vested interest in promoting its products.

"When the only thing you have going through your head is the purple pill, the purple pill, the purple pill, when there are half a dozen other reasonable, less expensive choices that can be used for treating your patients — are you actually making the right choice?" Hofmann asks.

Few would deny that pharmaceutical firms have a role to play, to share research findings and help doctors keep abreast of the latest developments in treatments and drug therapies.

"We’re entering into new areas of personalized medicine, areas involving genetic treatments, areas involving biologics," says Declan Hamill, the vice-president of legal affairs for RX&D, the association representing Canada’s research-based pharmaceutical companies.

"Companies (that) manufacture and create these medicines know an awful lot about them."

Hamill acknowledges the financial role played by the industry in subsidizing continuing education activities leaves a potential for conflict of interest.

"That being said … it is the doctor who controls the content, not the industry," Hamill stresses.

RX&D members must adhere to a strict code of ethical practices that covers everything from dispensing samples to when doctors can be paid honorariums to speak at industry-sponsored events.

Professional orders and medical faculties have adopted codes of ethics governing continuing medical education, too. But none bar the "free lunch" that is standard fare at hospital rounds and other educational activities.

"It’s a matter of judgment," says Dr. Yves Robert, the secretary of Quebec’s Collège des Médecins, or College of Physicians.

"If you think that a sandwich can have an effect on your professional independence — it’s probably not true. Even if it’s the best sandwich, it’s still just a sandwich."

Robert says doctors are trained from the moment they enter medical school to be critical and to evaluate everything they’re told based on evidence, not influence.

But a growing number of studies show doctors may not even be conscious of their biases and where they originate.

The Association of American Medical Colleges devoted a symposium to the Scientific Basis of Influence and Reciprocity in Washington, D.C., in 2007. It drew on a wealth of research, including studies using magnetic resonance imaging to show the "level of covert subtlety" at which the brain is working when a person is offered favours.

But studies don’t have to be that sophisticated.

"There was a study in 2001 that asked med students, residents and doctors, ‘Raise your hand if you think you are influenced by pharmaceutical funding?’" recalls Hofmann.

"Sixteen per cent raised their hand. The next question was, ‘Raise your hand if you think the guy sitting next to you is influenced' — and 61 per cent raised their hand!

"None of us are immune from the thought that we are critical thinkers — or better, smarter, faster, or whatever it is," concludes Hofmann. "The guy sitting next to you actually knows the truth."

The Yukon government says it will team up with Saskatchewan to carry out clinical trials of a controversial vein therapy for multiple sclerosis.

Saskatchewan announced earlier this year it will fund trials into so-called "liberation therapy," a form of angioplasty in which neck veins are opened up with small balloons to improve the flow of blood from the brain to the heart.

Yukon Health Minister Glenn Hart said details of its agreement with Saskatchewan are in development, but he said Yukoners should be selected for the clinical trials.

"We've chosen to move with Saskatchewan because they have a high number of MS patients in the province," Hart told CBC News. "We're hoping that with the greater number that we can kind of get in on the research and be included in a greater number of results."

Vein therapy is based on an unproven theory of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) — put forward by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni — that blocked veins in the neck or spine are to blame for MS.

The therapy is not approved by Health Canada, and much of the medical community has been skeptical of the procedure.

Treatment helped Whitehorse man But some Canadians with MS, including Tim Cant of Whitehorse, have traveled overseas to receive the treatment and have reported some benefits from it.

Those who do go overseas for vein therapy have to pay for the procedure themselves, as well as pay for any followup health-care costs.

But Cant said he has a new lease on life, thanks to the treatment he received in India in June.

"Oh, it's great! I walk up and I'm proud, I'm so happy. It's something that I never thought I'd do again," the 51-year-old said Friday at a local fitness centre, where he has been working out.

"I would climb up the stairs before, but I'd be hanging on. I'd take the elevator as much as I could to watch my grandson play hockey and so on. This [the gym] was off-limits for me. I didn't have the energy."

It's estimated that about 100 Yukoners have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that can destroy a person's nervous system and lead to loss of vision, severely impaired mobility and death.

Hart said he will meet with the territory's MS group early in the new year.

"It's a step in the right direction," Hart said. "We want to be responsible, we want to ensure that the actual therapy is going to be safe for those applicants who plan to take it in the future."

Source: CBC
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