Arizona sues thyroid prescription drug manufacturer for consumer fraud
Jan 3, 2023, 4:25 AM | Updated: 7:44 am
(Pixabay Photo)
(Pixabay Photo)
PHOENIX — In one of his last actions before leaving office, Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a civil complaint against a local thyroid drug tablet manufacturer last week for allegedly misleading customers.
The civil complaint filed in Maricopa Superior Court accuses RLC Labs of deceiving consumers about the potency of multiple products and seeks to obtain restitution under the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
The lawsuit also claims the corporation falsely advertised the amount of active ingredients liothyronine (T3) or levothyroxine (T4) in its Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid drugs.
The tablets were required under the United States Pharmacopeia standards to have no less than 90% of the advertised amounts of T3 and T4, but the Food and Drug Administration reported finding samples of the drugs containing less.
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“Consumers need to be able to trust what drug manufacturers say about their products,” Brnovich said in a press release. Brnovich’s eight years as attorney general ended Monday when his successor, Kris Mayes, was sworn in.
After the report, RLC Labs halted manufacturing the prescription tablets and recalled unexpired pills while promising a full refund to customers.
A total of 357,785,610 tablets, which had been sold between Aug. 1, 2017, and Sept. 2, 2020, were recalled.
“RLC’s promise of a ‘full refund’ to individuals who had purchased the recalled tablets was false or misleading,” the complaint said. “Its refund process was poorly publicized, burdensome and confusing.”
The complaint also said the company falsely assured customers no reports of adverse events were made about the recalled tablets.
“Had RLC searched the FDA Adverse Events Reporting System, RLC would have seen, for example, that dozens of consumers made reports about Nature-Throid in the month of September 2020 alone,” the complaint said.
Brnovich called for full compensation for those who bought the tablets and the establishment of a “reasonable process” to provide the compensation.
