NAD Refers Advertising for Generix Labs’ ‘BiphedAdrene’ to FTC for Further Review

New York, NY – June 22, 2012 – The National Advertising Division has referred advertising for BiphedAdrene, a product marketed Generix Laboratories, LLC, to the Federal Trade Commission for further review, following the company’s failure to provide a substantive response to an NAD inquiry.

NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s self-regulatory system and is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. As a part of its ongoing monitoring program and in conjunction with NAD’s initiative with the Council for Responsible Nutrition designed to expand review of advertising claims for dietary supplements, NAD requested the advertiser provide substantiation for claims that included:

• “While the pills do cause rapid weight loss (no doubt about that), most people buy them as ‘speed pills.’”
• “BiphedAdrene is a two-part complex system comprised of a unique ‘Amphetamine Provisional Complex’ (for powerful appetite control, mood-elevation, and energy) combined with an aggressive thermogenic compound (for fat burning and stamina).  This two-pronged attack on fat is apparently what makes the compound so effective … and so popular.”
• “[T]hese amphetamine-like compounds are fast becoming a favorite among bodybuilders, college students, and overstressed, exhausted homemakers for their energy and stamina-boosting properties (in other words as powerful ‘go-fast’ pills).”
• “These amphetamine-like compounds provide not only very substantial weight-loss, but also a similar mood and energy boost.”
• “[Y]ou shouldn’t even think about taking them if losing five or six ‘vanity pounds’ is your goal.  These diet pills are intended for the significantly overweight.”

In addition to the weight-loss claims at issue, CRN had concerns that the product was being marketed as a street drug alternative and in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act.

The advertiser failed to respond to NAD’s inquiry. In light of that failure, pursuant to Section 2.10(B) of NAD/NARB Procedures, which requires that unresolved issues be brought to the attention of the appropriate government agencies, NAD has referred the matter to the FTC for further review.