May 23, 2023
In an ever-changing consumer economy, one enduring timeworn constant is people today remain susceptible to misleading product claims. Estimates note the average person sees between 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements daily, nearly double the number that lobbied our eyeballs as recently as 2007. With our attention span stretched to the limit, the opportunity is booming for ethically challenged businesses to cajole an unsuspecting public into spending their money on items of dubious merit.
The responsibility for policing this unsavory reality falls primarily on the Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency vested with the authority to monitor the consumer marketplace and oversee that all information given to the public is factually and scientifically accurate. Its jurisdiction further extends to enforcement, which keeps hundreds of staff attorneys bustling — it is hoped – to hold companies engaging in deceptive practices accountable.
With an annual budget of $8.4 billion, the FDA has enormous resources to enforce the rules regarding the sale and distribution of health and beauty products. Yet, once again we find it choosing to look the other way on a blatant consumer sham.
The advertising campaign of pharmaceutical agent Revance Therapeutics is misleading consumers regarding the efficacy of its injectable skin care product neuromodulator DAXXIFY. While its marketing declares a 50 percent success rate, FDA testing revealed that only one-third (33 percent) of patients had the claimed benefits to their skin after injection. Tacking an extra 17 points to the FDA’s efficacy finding inflates Revance’s effectiveness by a whopping 51 percent, rendering its press release and marketing as blatant misstatements of the FDA’s objective findings.
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