June 20, 2006
Two Nevada companies and their owner have settled charges that they advertised false and misleading claims regarding a progesterone cream product they sold.
Named in the settlement are Gateway Distributors, Ltd. and The Right Solution Gateway of Las Vegas, Nevada, and their owner, Richard Bailey. Bailey's companies use the name "The Right Solution" to market alternative health products to consumers through the Internet and mail.
Attorneys General from 16 states and the District pf Columbia charged that The Right Solution mailed an ad residents of their states labeled as a "Medical Recall Notice." The notice falsely stated that prescription estrogen and progesterone products have been the subjects of medical recalls.
The Right Solution's notice stated that these products are hazardous to consumers' health and further claimed that these products could cause breast cancer, cervical cancer and endometrial cancer.
The notice urged and advised consumers to use The Right Solution's product, "YMotion Yam Cream," instead. No prescription drug estrogen or progesterone products have been the subjects of a medical recall.
"The marketing strategy was simply to scare Oregonians into purchasing unapproved drugs," Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said. "The products, as marketed, had not been clinically tested or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and could not be legally sold in the United States."
Under the settlement, the companies and their owner agreed to return all of the payments received from consumers, who file complaints about the YMotion Yam Cream products they purchased by December 11, 2006.
In addition, The Right Solution agreed to stop selling its YMotion Progesterone cream or any other drug products as treatments for human illnesses or diseases unless first approved by the FDA and to not make any health claims in their advertisements unless they possess clinical research proving their claims to be true. The Right Solution also agreed to pay a $100,000 to be shared by the 18 participating states.
Jurisdictions participating in the settlement are Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
