California and 10 local prosecutors have reached a $1 million settlement with diet-pill maker Nutraquest Inc., manufacturer of the best-selling diet pill, Xenadrine RFA-1. The lawsuit accused the company of using deceptive techniques to sell weight-loss products that contained ephedra.
Nutraquest had claimed that the drug was "clinically proven to increase fat-loss by an unprecedented 1,700 percent," and is "the only diet supplement in the world clinically proven to increase fat loss by an extraordinary 38.6 times more than diet and exercise alone."
The Food and Drug Administration banned ephedra in April 2004 after it was linked to dozens of deaths and thousands of reports of health problems such as heart attack or increased blood pressure. Nutraquest filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003 after a flood of lawsuits claiming the ephedra in Xenadrine caused medical problems, including at least one death.
As part of the settlement announced Thursday, Nutraquest president Robert Chinery has to pay $600,000 in civil penalties and $400,000 in costs.
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