From this press release.
Hi-Tech Pharmaceutical Sues Self Professed Weight Loss Expert – Harvard Professor Pieter A. Cohen for $50 Million in Compensatory Damages and $150 Million in Punitive Damages for Libel and Slander
NORCROSS, Ga., April 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc, ( “Hi-Tech”) filed a suit against four researchers who published a defamatory article in a journal known as “Drug Testing and Analysis” an article entitled, “An amphetamine isomer whose efficacy and safety in humans has never been studied, B-methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA), is found in multiple dietary supplements.” Jared Wheat, President of Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, stated, “Defendants Cohen, Bloszies, Yee, and Gerona have published and/or uttered multiple false and malicious statements about the safety of dietary supplements containing Acacia rigidula manufactured by Hi-Tech and others, with the intent to incite enforcement action against Hi-Tech from the FDA and to defame and disparage Hi-Tech’s products and commercial reputation.”
“Through several dozen false, misleading and defamatory statements, repeated continuously during a week-long disinformation campaign, Pieter A. Cohen ABC and other individuals knowingly misled consumers into believing that B-methylphenylethylamine LFTB was not a dietary supplement and not safe for public consumption, which is completely false,” said Stacey Alexander, Chief Scientific Officer of Hi-Tech. “Hi-Tech has filed suit because our business has been severely damaged by this conduct. As a result, we will be asking a jury to award Hi-Tech over two hundred million in compensatory and punitive damages.” stated Alexander.
Shit… are you awake? Oh no, the reader is CODING. Reader got BORED TO FUCKING DEATH. CLEAR! CLEAR!
Ok, whew… you back? Thought we lost you for a minute there.
So, if you got anything out of that, I imagine it is that “Hi-Tech” sued a researcher for his statements that their product didn’t work.
It doesn’t say where they sued him. If you dare read the rest of it, here it is.
Oh, and Hi-Tech, the person who damaged your business the most is the person who approved that press release.
And I would be surprised if it doesn’t get worse.
UPDATE: Here is the complaint. I don’t have time to draft a full report on it. But, looking at it suggests to me that it was not the most well thought out plan. This is not going to end the way Hi-Tech hoped.
UPDATE2: Wow… the more I read this thing, the more I question the wisdom of filing it. It certainly isn’t the stupidest defamation suit I’ve ever seen. But, it makes a pretty respectable showing in that competition.
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one might ask what supplements they were on when they thought out this litigation? or would that too be subject to a lawsuit?????
here is perhaps the best part http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/QADietarySupplements/ucm443790.htm
I was bored over the weekend so I had time on my hands (always a dangerous thing). I logged in and when to check the assertions that there were was plenty of literature about the compound existing in nature and not being a synthetic. I expected the references to be fake or at least ambiguous. Was I ever surprised?!@!@!@!!@! Not only was there literature, there was a body of literature about the whole concept of compounds (like this one) synthesised in the laboratory and subsequently found in nature. These articles are from the 1950s and 1960s and have stood the test of time. They aren’t in some poorly-reviewed or non-peer reviewed pub like we see today. They may all be in error but its pretty clear the assertion that this compound exists in nature and is not notoriously only synthetic…well…its arguable
This suit may be funky but it looks like the base claim of the plaintiff has legs.
yes, if they can show it is naturally occuring, then they will be fine, otherwise, they are caught in their lie.
well you can do the research yourself. they have full cites in their complaint that is linked in the blog. i didnt exactly spend hours to find the articles cited and see that they do indeed talk about those same findings. the complaint itself is still funky. and my gut tells me they are selling snake oil simply because I never met a supplement sales pitch that wasnt snake oil.
but it appears the the people on the sciencey side are over the line on this one. which is really fucking sad :(