On September 29, Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York dismissed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) complaint against Wisconsin-based Quincy Bioscience, the makers of Prevagen.
In January, the FTC and the NYAG charged the marketers of the dietary supplement Prevagen with making false and unsubstantiated claims that the product improves memory, provides cognitive benefits, and is “clinically shown” to work.
The federal court complaint alleged that the defendants enticed consumers to spend anywhere from $24 to $68 for bottles of 30 supplement pills by touting the product’s active ingredient—a protein derived from jellyfish—to improve memory and reduce memory problems associated with aging.
The complaint noted that the supplement is widely available at major retailers such as Amazon, CVS, the Vitamin Shoppe and Walgreens, and is also sold directly on Quincy Bioscience’s websites. The company’s product sales have topped $165 million, according to the complaint.
John Villafranco, partner at Kelley Drye and counsel representing Quincy Bioscience in the complaint, released the following statement: “We are very pleased with the Judge’s decision today. We continue to believe that Quincy Bioscience has presented substantial evidence in support of its claims about Prevagen.”
For more information, visit www.quincybioscience.com.
