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Abbott Accuses Pharma Company of Coming Incorrect
As of last week, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is on the warpath against a pharmaceutical corporation based in Coppell, Texas - just outside of Dallas - that appears to be trying to sell unapproved medical cures and bunk therapies to sick people by associating its products not with scientific documentation and development, but instead with Judeo-Christian history and faith. Niiiice.
The company is called Mannatech, Inc., apparently a health supplement/therapy company that's named itself after the biblical ambrosia-like cure-all, manna. Mannatech Inc. sells its nutritional supplements in 10 countries, including the United States. It hosts community gatherings across the country at which the benefits of the company's drugs are discussed. It distributes its own in-house scientific research proving the validity and efficacy of its medicinal products. Yes, readers, this has all the makings of a consumer scam of, well, Biblical proportions (sorry, that was just irresistible).
Mannatech is a major corporation, it's traded on the NASDAQ, and it earned nearly $400 million in 2006 alone. This is no nickle-and-dime lemonade stand; this company makes a lot of money and it has shareholders. In 2005, Business Week even annointed Mannatech as one of the "10 Top Hot Growth Companies" of the year. The company sells lots of different types of pills and supplements - pills that they claim can help you lose weight, pills that can help you live a healthier and happier life, and even pills that Mannatech claims can cure diseases and conditions like AIDS, cancer and Down's syndrome. And perhaps shadiest of all: The company sells its medicine through the "testimonials" of customers whom the company claims to have helped or cured through its medications. In community meetings where these testimonials are given, Mannatech representatives pass out literature from its own medical research department to potential customers, explaining how Mannatech's drugs are real cures that are way ahead of modern science (hence, no FDA approval). At first glance, the company almost sounds like it's using an evangelical approach to pharmaceutical sales.
Attorney General Greg Abbott is now going after Mannatech, claiming that they're operating an illegal marketing scheme to sell untested and unproven medications, cures, and therapies to unsuspecting Texas consumers. Abbott's office filed its official petition against Mannatech last week, so the case against the company is now underway. According to Abbott, no verifiable scentific evidence exists proving that Mannatech's products actually do what the company claims. There's no FDA approval. And, according to the AG's petition, the founder of Mannatech, Samuel Caster, has already admitted openly that his company's drugs don't work.
Abbott is suing Mannatech and its related subsidiaries for violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If found guilty of wrongdoing, Mannatech, Inc. could be fined as much as $20,000 per violation. Mannatech is also being sued for violating the Texas Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, under which Mannatech could face additional penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
*Image courtesy of Naturfilosofen on flickr.
