Here’s a big surprise…

A class action suit has been filed against Daniel Mowrey, Mitchell Friedlander and the merry band over at Dynakor Pharmacal, Basic Research, or whatever the heck they happen to be calling themselves these days.

Lawsuits and controversy are pretty much all in a day’s work for these guys. For example, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) took action against Mowrey et al in 2004. That’s when they operated under the moniker of “Klein Becker” and were flogging such weight loss gems as Pedialean, Anorex, Leptoprin, Dermalin, and Cutting Gel.  

In this case, it’s their Akävar 20/50 weight loss product that is causing all the trouble.

Apparently, the claim — “eat all you want and still lose weight” – doesn’t have any basis in fact (incidentally Akävar 20/50 contains the exact same ingredient profile as Estrin-D. Estrin-D is the subject of an unrelated class action filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Defendants Gay, Mowrey, Friedlander, Basic Research, Western Holdings, and others). 

The suit alleges that…

  • The Defendants claim that Akävar is the “European weight-loss breakthrough” is false. In fact, Akävar was not available in Europe prior to its U.S. introduction, and was created by Defendants in Utah, at their headquarters.
  • The core of Defendants’ fraudulent representations regarding Akävar is summarized in Defendants’ slogan: “Eat all you want and still lose weight.” 
  • In support of their claims that Akävar allows you to “Eat all you want and still lose weight,” the Defendants’ advertising asserts a number of facts. In fact, Defendants’ advertising claims are false, misleading, deceptive and inaccurate. Contrary to Defendants’ advertising claims, Akävar’s formulation is not the result of years of intensive research. Nor is Akävar a new generation of powerful, foolproof, bio-active weight-loss compound. 
  • Defendant Mowrey is not a medical doctor (the FTC has been after Mowrey for this before as well).
  • Akävar has not undergone scientific evaluation by a team of doctors, nor has Akävar been tested in controlled random clinical trials.
  • Akävar has not been tested for safety or efficacy, is not a part of a “new generation of fast-acting caloric restrictors,” and no “tests prove virtually 100% success.” 
  • The Defendants intentionally mislead consumers as to the evaluation and testing of the product.
  • As part of their advertising campaign for Akävar, Defendants use the phrases: “and we couldn’t say it in print” and “and we couldn’t say it in print if it wasn’t true,” both registered trademark phrases of Defendant Western Holdings. These phrases are false, and are intended to be, and are, misleading to consumers.  
  • There is no clinical or scientific support for Defendants’ representations that Akävar has the ability to cause pockets of fat to be pulled from bulging parts of consumers’ bodies!

Phew! There’s a lot there, eh?

Here’s what we know for sure…

Mr Mowrey and his associates have been in trouble with the FTC before for making false and unsubstantiated claims. Mowrey has been caught misrepresenting himself as a medical doctor on previous occasions as well. 

Akävar 20/50 is not some new miraculous European weight loss breakthrough, but a re-branded version of Estrin-D. There have been no clinical studies performed on Akävar, and certainly there’s no evidence that validates the claim that you can “eat all you want and still lose weight.”

What’s most disturbing about this case is not that there are individuals of dubious integrity who are using underhanded means to sell you products of questionable effectiveness. Unfortunately, this is pretty common (as evidenced by Elissa in her latest post). What’s disturbing is that it seems like this  same group of guys is doing it over and over again, and the FTC seems unable to do anything to stop it.

It would be nice to see this action settled overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiffs, and frankly, I have hard time seeing how it could go any other way. And it would be nice to see the FTC step in and shut these guys down for good.

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