Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19824

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Reuters
Dietary Supplement Recalled for Containing Prescription Anxiety Drug
MedScape 2001 Feb 16

Full text:

A dietary supplement promoted to treat a wide range of conditions, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol, is the subject of a nationwide recall after an investigation revealed that the product contains the prescription anxiety drug chlordiazepoxide.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the California Department of Health Services are warning consumers not to take Anso Comfort Capsules, which were sold by Arcadia, California-based NuMeridan via phone and mail order.
Chlordiazepoxide, which is prescribed under the brand name Librium, is classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a controlled substance. The drug can have dangerous interactions with other medications, can intensify the effects of alcohol and other central nervous system depressants, and may be habit forming. The presence of chlordiazepoxide was not revealed on Anso Comfort Capsules’ label.
California State Health Director Dr. Diana Bonta said that consumers should stop using Anso Comfort Capsules and seek medical advice, particularly if they are taking other prescription medications.
NuMeridan, formerly Top Line Project USA Group, is conducting a voluntary recall of the product under US Food and Drug Administration monitoring.
The Company also appears to have violated government regulations by promoting its capsules as a treatment for various illness. Dietary supplements are permitted to claim only that they help maintain a structure or function of the body.
Cold Comfort Capsules were manufactured in California using raw materials imported from China.
NuMerdian’s owner Bill Tian told Reuters Health that his company began the recall of Anso Comfort capsules last week by writing letters to all of the firm’s US customers.
NuMerdian’s customer base consists of 15 “Chinese clinics” located in California, New York, Illinois and Florida, he said.
Tian also claimed that his company was never doing business as Top Line Project USA, as DHS claimed, but that Top Line was a separate entity, which closed its doors in the wake of the recall. NuMeridan purchased its materials for the Anso Comfort capsules from Top Line, which imported the ingredients from China, he said.