Herbal Patches Withdrawn

MEDIA RELEASE
Consumers’ Institute
16 October 2007

Herbal Patches Withdrawn

A company importing Chinese herbal patches has removed six products from its website and may face further action, after an investigation by Consumer magazine uncovered evidence of misleading claims.

Patch House NZ Ltd has now withdrawn six of the eight products on its website after Medsafe – the body that is responsible for ensuring companies comply with medicines’ safety legislation – found the company was making therapeutic claims for most of its products. The products range in price from $30 to $60. Patch House has also altered the claims for the website’s two remaining slimming products and their television advertising has been pulled until the matter is sorted out.

Instructions on the back of the Hypertension Patch claim the “patch is proved effective to regulate the blood circulation into (sic) normal state.” While the blurb for the pain relief patch on the website claims that “it is approve (sic) 100% effective and may relieve effect (sic) in 20 minutes! 100% Safety, 100% Natural!”

Under the Medicines Act products for which therapeutic claims are made are classified as medicines and must meet international requirements for safety, quality and efficacy. Medsafe says it did not give permission for the products to be distributed as medicines and is now considering further action against the company. Companies found to have breached the Medicines Act face a fine of up to $100,000.

Patch House chief executive Ross Misson said the TV advertisement for the slimming products featured the company’s web address, was approved by Medsafe and the Therapeutic Advertising Pre-vetting System (TAPS). He claimed it was TAPS’ job to ensure that the information on the website was compliant with all the relevant regulations.

But TAPS adjudicator Peter Pratt said that when he approved the advertisement the website only featured the slimming products; the other products were added later. He said TAPS cancelled its approval for the television advertisement after it was contacted by Medsafe on Friday.

Medsafe also told us that it saw a draft only of the advertisement and the draft did not refer to the website.

Misson said the hypertension patch and the pain-relief patch only arrived in the country at the end of September and they hadn’t sought approval for them because they weren’t advertised on television. But as soon as Medsafe alerted him to the issue he changed the website so it complied with Medsafe guidelines. Shortly after this, the products were removed off the website.

“The problem we are having with Medsafe and TAPS is that they are very uncooperative in regards to giving consumers and wholesalers … a guideline of what we can and cannot say.”

Misson defended the decision to import the patches as health products rather than medicines.

“They are 100 percent herbal and they are just health products.”

Misson said Patch House had tested the products on “ourselves, our friends, people at the gym that wanted to try them” and they had checked the results thoroughly before deciding to import and sell them.

Consumer chief executive Sue Chetwin said “we advise people not to buy these herbal patches. There is no scientific or clinical evidence to show they work.” Chetwin said it was “pleasing to see MedSafe act so swiftly after Consumer brought the complaint to its attention. Any product that makes a therapeutic claim must be approved for sale by MedSafe.”

If you have any doubts contact the Ministry of Health www.moh.govt.nz

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