Cold-FX, a drugstore remedy hawked by Canadian fashion icon Don Cherry, is the subject of a lawsuit alleging the makers “ignored their own research and misled consumers about the short-term effectiveness of the popular cold and flu remedy”. Cold-FX is basically just some sort of ginseng extract, although they give it the fancy name “CVT-E002”. The suit was brought by Don Harrison of Vancouver Island.
Questions about the efficacy of Cold-FX have been raised for years.
Whether or not the claims of Cold-FX are false — nothing has been proven in court yet — there is no question that there is a lot of fraud in the over-the-counter pharmacy market, including worthless homeopathic remedies marketed as being effective against a wide variety of illnesses.
Hopefully this lawsuit, whether it succeeds or not, will make pharmaceutical companies much more diligent about ensuring the veracity of their claims.
That’s awesome. Doubly so because Don Cherry is a loudmouthed, xenophobic buffoon (he has more redeeming qualities than someone like Trump, but that’s not saying much).
CBC Marketplace’s story on ColdFX (from 2012) was awesome. Full story (22 min)*, extra segment (2 min)* where Don Cherry gives his anecdotal evidence and dismisses science.
*For anyone who didn’t already know, you can crank up the speed on YouTube videos if you click on the little gear icon. 1.25x speed is a barely noticeable difference. I usually try 1.5x first but, if people are talking fast in the video, it can be hard to understand them.
But in the real reality, it may only make the pharmaceutical companies more creative regarding how the claims are marketed.