"The compositions of the present invention are useful to prevent or treat the following disorders and diseases: memory loss; Parkinson’s disease; aging; toxin-induced hepatotoxicity, inflammation; liver cirrhosis; chronic hepatitis; and diabetes due to cirrhosis; indigestion; fatigue; stress; cough; infertility; tissue inflammation; cancer; anxiety disorders; panic attacks; rheumatism; pain; manic depression; alcoholic paranoia; schizophrenia; fever; insomnia; infertility; aging; skin inflammations and disorders; alcoholism; anemia; carbuncles; convalescence; emaciation; HIV; AIDS; immune system problems; lumbago; multiple sclerosis; muscle energy loss; paralysis; swollen glands; ulcers; breathing difficulties; inflammation; psoriasis; cancer (e.g.; prostate cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer); pain; cardiovascular disease (e.g.; arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis); ischemia/reperfusion injury; anxiety; attention deficit disorder; leprosy; arthritis (e.g., psoriatic arthritis; ankylosing spondylitis; and rheumatoid arthritis); hemorrhoids; tuberculosis; high blood pressure; congestive heart failure; venous insufficiency (pooling of blood in the veins; usually in the legs); sore throat; hepatitis; syphilis; stomach ulcers; epilepsy; diarrhea; asthma; burns; piles; sunburn; wrinkles; headache; insect bites; cuts; ulcers; sores; herpes; jaundice; bursitis; canker sores; sore gums; poison ivy; gastritis; high cholesterol; heart disease; bacterial infection; viral infection; acne; aging; immune disorders; dental caries; periodontitis; halitosis; dandruff; cardiovascular disease (e.g., hypertension; thrombosis; arteriosclerosis); migraine headaches; diabetes; elevated blood glucose; diseases of the alimentary canal and respiratory system; age-related physical and mental deterioration (e.g., Alzheimer’s Disease and age-related dementia); cardiovascular disease; cerebral vascular insufficiency and impaired cerebral performance; congestive symptoms of premenstrual syndrome; allergies; age-related vision loss; depression; Raynaud’s disease; peripheral vascular disease; intermittent claudication; vertigo; equilibrium disorder; prevention of altitude sickness; tinnitus (ringing in the ear); liver fibrosis; macular degeneration; asthma; graft rejection; and immune disorders that induce toxic shock; bronchpulmonary disease as cystic fibrosis; chronic bronchitis; gastritis; heart attack; angina pectoris; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; kidney damage during coronary angiography; Unverricht-Lundborg disease; pseudoporphyria; pneumonia; and paracetamol hepatotoxicity."

This immediately reminds me of the quote from the FTC warning about scams that I referenced here: Protandim, Miracle Claims, Scientific Breakthroughs, and the FTC:

"Miracle products claim to cure serious conditions — often conditions that science has no cure for, like arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and HIV-AIDS. Some products even claim to be a ‘cure-all’ for several diseases and a host of symptoms. Often, the ads claim the products come with money-back guarantees. Unfortunately, these products, devices, and treatments often are unproven and useless, making promises they can’t fulfill."

It appears that every single one of the conditions that the FTC warns about is in the list. Even more interesting is that several conditions such as cancer, gastritis, cardiovascular disease, asthma, infertility, and diabetes are listed more than once. The patent lists "aging" three times (Fountain of Youth, anyone?).

It is interesting to read "The compositions of the present invention are useful to prevent or treat the following disorders and diseases:" and then find on LifeVantage's own FAQ: "Protandim is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease." Clearly LifeVantage is confused about the intentions of its own product. One has to ask the question why should consumers have any trust in LifeVantage or Protandim when the company clearly doesn't know what their own product is intended to do?

Where does this patent perhaps break the law? Well section 201(g)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) [21 U.S.C. § 321(g)(1)(B) says that drug is defined as "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals." From the words in the patent, LifeVantage views Protandim to fit the FDA's definition of being a "drug."

However, for such claims to be made, the product itself must be approved by the FDA through a process called the New Drug Application (NDA). To the best of my knowledge (and any doubters feel free to prove otherwise), LifeVantage has NOT filed with the FDA to classify Protandim as drug.

It seems one could view this patent application as violating the FDA's laws regarding dietary supplements (which is what Protandim is classified as).

Originally posted 2011-06-18 21:22:03.

[Note: Mrs. Leavitt's lawyer sent me a DMCA take-down notice for alleged copyright infringement for embedding this video from YouTube.com. I have sent a DMCA counter-notice that the lawyer must initiate legal action against me and settle this in a court of law. It is my understanding that the lawyer must file law suit against me within 10-14 days. That 10-14 day has expired and I have not been notified of any lawsuit. Thus, I'm going to restore the embedded video from YouTube as the feature was designed by Google for the ease of use of the reader.

I apologize for any past inconvenience caused by Mrs. Leavitt and her lawyer. Considering the video's content, I can understand why Nancy Leavitt would want to make it more difficult for you to view it.]

As with all YouTube videos they can be taken down by their respective owners. I suspect the above video will be taken down soon. In the event that happens I made a copy for my records. In fact, there's a note at the bottom of the comments from Matt Leavitt asking that it be removed 9 months ago. That alone should be a major red flag that this product is being marketed illegally. However as it stands on May 31, 2011, this video, that was submitted on February 9th, 2010, has over 4400 page views.

In the video you'll find Nancy Leavitt saying the following:

- 0:13 - "The most important thing to know is that this product works 100% of the time. It's proven, it's documented and it's measurable."
- 0:41 - "I had real achy joints from teaching aerobics for so many years and after just a few weeks of using Protandim that subsided immediately."
- 0:51 - "I was also using some anxiety medication and I noticed all of my symptoms from anxiety started going away..."
- 1:02 - "I no longer struggle with ADD and joint pain is gone."
- 1:10 - "The most profound thing that happened to me, besides having more energy and better sleep... what was really miraculous to me... I've suffered and struggle with skin cancer for years."
- 2:05 - "I was using Protandim and also TrueScience and I've been using the product for 6 weeks and I wanted to wait to have the surgery done because #1 it is obviously expensive and causes different scars and such... after 6 weeks the using Protandim and TrueScience the two spots on my forehead disappeared and the spot on my leg completely disappeared as well. The symptoms of skin cancer... totally gone... it was just a miraculous thing for me."

Nancy Leavitt doesn't waste much time stressing the "most important thing" that the "product works 100% of the time." She fails to define what working is in that statement, but says that it's "proven", "documented", and "measurable".... three things that are impossible to apply to something is only generally defined as "works."

Nancy Leavitt then goes into litany of medical conditions that Protandim has cured as I showed above. With those medical cure condition claims in mind, let's review LifeVantage distributor policies and procedures:

"8.11.2 – Product Claims

No claims, which include personal testimonials, as to therapeutic, curative or beneficial properties of any products offered by LifeVantage may be made except those contained in official LifeVantage materials. In particular, no Independent Distributor may make any claim that LifeVantage products are useful in the cure, treatment, diagnosis, mitigation or prevention of any diseases or signs or symptoms of disease. Not only are such claims violations of LifeVantage policies, but they potentially violate federal and state laws and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and Federal Trade Commission Act."

So there is the evidence that the very top people in LifeVantage break LifeVantage's own rules. As LifeVantage mentions they potentially violate the FDA and FTC's policies. The FTC has released the following guidelines on such testimonies:

• Endorsements must be truthful and not misleading;
• If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what consumers will achieve by using the product, the ad must clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected results in the depicted circumstances; and
• If there’s a connection between the endorser and the marketer of the product that would affect how people evaluate the endorsement, it should be disclosed.

This video violates at least the two points. She didn't disclose that she is a paid LifeVantage distributor in the video. She also does not disclose that her results are different from the "generally expected results." It is hard to judge the first own without medical proof. In addition, we already covered how how the FTC feels about the claims Nancy Leavitt made. Specifically that article mentioned:

• products that "claim to be a ‘cure-all’ for several diseases... often are unproven and useless, making promises they can’t fulfill."
• "The reality is that phony miracle products can have dangerous interactions with medicines you’re already taking. They also might cause you to delay or stop medical treatment for your condition…"
• products you should avoid “are promoted with phrases like 'scientific breakthrough,' 'ancient remedy,' or 'miraculous cure,' or scientific-sounding terms like 'thermogenesis'"

So we have Nancy Leavitt hitting all the major points of what the FTC is a scam and fraud. In regard to bullet point #1 above, she definitely calls it a cure-all (works 100%) for several conditions. In regard to bullet point #2 above, she admitted that it stopped her from treating her medical condition (skin cancer). Finally, In regard to bullet point #3 above, we have her claiming twice that Protandim was "miraculous."

A related article notes that MonaVie, another MLM, and their lawyers have made it a point to warn that these claims violate the FTC rules: MonaVie, FTC Guidelines, and Distributor Testimonies.

I haven't even touched the FDA violations here. I'll let someone in the comments get that ball rolling.

Originally posted 2011-05-31 22:13:03.

This lead me in the direction of looking at the history of the LifeVantage CEOs. After all, if the company's product is revolutionary and one were seriously making comparisons to comparison, no one would leave the company... least of all the CEO.

So it was with little surprise that I saw LifeVantage's history littered with a number of CEOs:

Using the great information provided by TonyC, I was able to compile a list of LifeVantage CEOs from July, 2005 - August, 2007:

• 7/1/2005 - Lifeline Therapeutics, Inc. president and CEO Bill Driscoll resigns.
• 11/28/2005 - Lifeline Therapeutics, Inc. announces Stephen K. Onody as CEO
• 11/30/2006 - Stephen K. Onody tenders his resignation as CEO of Lifevantage Corporation.
• 12/21/2006 - James J. Krejci becomes CEO of LifeVantage
• 8/30/2007 - LifeVantage CEO James J. Krejci's employment "ended."
• 8/31/2007 - James J. Krejci resigns from the board of directors of LifeVantage.

At that point, things became a bit fuzzy. TonyC's history started to drop off a bit. LifeVantage seems to purposely ignore all company history before their press releases before February 2008. Fortunately the Denver Business Journal helped out with an article on January, 14th, 2008:

Since September, LifeVantage has been headed by Gene Copeland as interim chief operating officer. He took over after John Van Heuvelen served a stint as interim CEO following the resignation in November 2006 of Stephen Onody as CEO after a year on the job.

With this information I was able to look up the names mentioned and found out the following somewhat conflicting information:

• John Van Heuvelen took over as interim CEO in December 16, 2006.. Using the above information about LifeVantage hiring Krejci as CEO, John Van Heuvelen's reign of CEO seems to be a quick 5 days.
• Gene Copeland assumed control as Chief Operating Officer in September, 2007. It looks like he takes over from Krejci and lasts 3 months until...
• ... David W Brown became CEO in January of 2008
• LifeVantage announced in January of 2011 that it is looking for a new CEO.

Here are some comments along the way:

• Stephen K. Onody stayed at LifeVantage for just two days more than his one-year anniversary. Typically this happens when someone wants to get out, but is waiting for stock options to invest.
• John Van Heuvelen apparent CEO run of 5 days isn't a sign of a company that is looking to show shareholders longevity.
• Gene Copeland's 3 month run as CEO could be characterized in the same way

Logic would dictate that if a company has a breakthrough product and their CEO believes it, he would stick around. It looks to me that in 6 years, LifeVantage has had 6 CEOs... and they are looking for their 7th.

As with all posts, I welcome any thoughts and/or corrections to this information.

Originally posted 2011-05-31 04:18:15.

A few quotes stood out with regard to LifeVantage Protandim. The first was this one:

"Miracle products claim to cure serious conditions — often conditions that science has no cure for, like arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and HIV-AIDS. Some products even claim to be a 'cure-all' for several diseases and a host of symptoms. Often, the ads claim the products come with money-back guarantees. Unfortunately, these products, devices, and treatments often are unproven and useless, making promises they can’t fulfill."

I have seen many LifeVantage distributors make claims that Protandim has helped them with a variety of conditions. Nancy Leavitt's skin cancer claims is one shining example from the above list of conditions. This is a good time to focus on the last line "unproven and useless, making promises they can’t fulfill."

Here are a few other quotes that I found interesting:

"The reality is that phony miracle products can have dangerous interactions with medicines you’re already taking. They also might cause you to delay or stop medical treatment for your condition... It can indicate that a scammer is planning to take your money and close up shop.

Products that claim to do it all often do none of it. So even though you want to believe them, be skeptical, and avoid products that..."

We'll get to the rest of that quote in a bit. I wanted to point out the issue that the FTC says about causing people to delay or stop medical treatment. Nancy Leavitt's admitted to delaying her skin cancer treatment specifically because of Protandim. Also it is worth pointing out the company uses the term "scammer." Finally, they make a great point that "products that claim to do it often do none of it." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Now allow me to finish up the quote of what products you should avoid:

"are promoted with phrases like “scientific breakthrough,” “ancient remedy,” or “miraculous cure,” or scientific-sounding terms like 'thermogenesis'"

I can think of a product that is promoted as a "scientific breakthrough." I mentioned it back in my article, "LifeVantage and Dr. Joe McCord Lie about the Creation of Protandim?." It turns out that LifeVantage promotes its Protandim product with this exact phrase:

As of this writing, you can still see the proof at LifeVantage.com.

Originally posted 2011-05-17 03:20:28.

You would think that Michelle Skaff as a LifeVantage Pro 7 distributor and member of the LifeVantage Ownership Circle would know better, but then again this is one of the least surprising findings on this site. Michelle Skaff runs the website, Our Health and Abundance according to the GoDaddy Registry information.

Our Health and Abundance looks to be a repository of conflicting information. It's purpose is clearly to pitch Protandim with the tagline of "Featuring: Testimonials, Doctors, Vets and Pets for Protandim." It includes categories on the sidebar of diseases such as: Fibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Cancer, and Diabetes. However in small letters at the bottom of the page is the disclaimer, "*Products not intended to cure, treat or prevent disease*." This would seem to fall afoul of the FTC's endorsement guidelines where you can not suggest Protandim plays a role in disease and then in small letters negate the whole statement.

When you dig a little further you can see that there are a number of illegal claims on a Protandim testimonial page. There you can find Protandim distributor Don Wheat crediting Protandim helping his throat cancer and Protandim distributor Alithia Rutherford credit Protandim with helping with headaches (though the site categorizes the testimonial under Multiple Sclerosis as well as many other testimonies involving various diseases.

Michelle Skaff's own LinkedIn Page contains illegal claims about Protandim:

"Featured on ABC, NBC, PBS, and in Sanjay Gupta's book, Chasing Life, Protandim is proven to be a scientific breakthrough for our health based on it's ability to activate the powerful survival genes in our bodies that reduce aging, oxidation, inflammation and impact diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more. It has been researched by LSU, Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Colorado and and other leading universities based on it's powerful ability to activate the survival genes within our cells, which are millions of times more powerful then what we might consume externally.. If you are serious about your health, learn about this product and science."

I bolded the parts where she illegally claims that Protandim does impact diseases. However it also worth pointing out that Harvard and MGH have not researched Protandim.

It is quite clear that Michelle Skaff is using testimonials to pitch Protandim as an aid to many, many diseases despite her own disclaimer and LifeVantage's that it isn't intended for such purposes. There's a word in the dictionary for this and it's called fraud.

Originally posted 2011-10-11 16:13:28.

It's worth noting that Paul Myhill has no background in medicine. Here is his LinkedIn page. I see theological study and business school, but nothing related to medicine.

If this seems odd it should. It is even odd to Paul Myhill. In an interview with Blogtalk radio, Paul Myhill, explains his invention of Protandim as well as the corporate cover-up of using Dr. McCord as a marketing tool. He specifically states:

Because the core composition came from a very unlikely source – me – we initially decided to hide that fact for marketing purposes and instead rely on the impeccable background of Dr. McCord.

What do I take away from this? I'll answer that question with a question. What if I told you that an African tribesman whose tribe was isolated from civilization for hundreds of years got plucked and put in a microchip lab at Intel and created a revolutionary chip with only some leaves, dirt, and bamboo. Would you'd believe it? Wouldn't you be skeptical at all? If you missed the analogy here goes... Paul Myhill is the isolated tribesman with no experience or training and the leaves, dirt, and bamboo are the common herbs in Protandim.

A potential Protandim consumer should be wary of products claiming to have medical merit from someone with no medical background. They should also think twice about trusting a company that has admitted to lying to consumers.

Originally posted 2011-05-14 21:05:58.

To back-up my claim I referenced Section 8.11.2 of LifeVantage's Policies and Procedures (PDF). In reading this section I found something interesting that I hadn't noticed before... a second paragraph. I don't know if it's new or if it has been there all along, but here it is:

"8.11.2 – Product Claims
No claims, which include personal testimonials, as to therapeutic, curative or beneficial properties of any products offered by LifeVantage may be made except those contained in official LifeVantage materials. In particular, no Independent Distributor may make any claim that LifeVantage products are useful in the cure, treatment, diagnosis, mitigation or prevention of any diseases or signs or symptoms of disease. Not only are such claims violations of LifeVantage policies, but they potentially violate federal and state laws and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and Federal Trade Commission Act.

An Independent Distributor that provides a product experience testimonial in any medium should use care to disclose their affiliation with LifeVantage ('LifeVantage Independent Distributor'), be honest in their testimonial personal experience, and assert that they are not claiming that their experience is the typical result experienced by consumers."

The first paragraph seems to prohibit any and all health claims that one can say to have experienced. Why? Because to my knowledge there are no claims in the official LifeVantage materials. The claims that I have seen in the LifeVantage materials relate to oxidative stress. However, a person can not relate to others their personal experience of feeling less oxidative stress - it's an imperceptible reaction within the body. No one has the feeling that their oxidative stress levels are high or low like they would with say, blood sugar as an example. (It should go without saying that what most people mean by "stress" is very different than "oxidative stress." I'll put it in writing for those who confuse the two.)

The second paragraph seems to leave it open for distributors to make personal experience testimonials if they are honest and as long as it is disclosed that their experience is not the typical result experienced by consumers.

There are a couple of problems here:

1. Given the groundwork that was laid down in the first paragraph, I can't picture a scenario where the second paragraph would ever come into play. The first paragraph essentially eliminates all personal testimonies making the second paragraph irrelevant.
2. A distributor may believe they are being honest about their personal testimony, but due to the nature of Protandim being a health product and a pill in particular the placebo effect is very likely the cause. Thus the distributor making the claim may be lying without knowing it. The distributor can't know what is true results or placebo effect. This would mean that the distributor can not be honest in their assessment in most claims.

It seems like LifeVantage is taking a cue from George Orwell's 1984 and using DoubleThink to control the thoughts of its distributors. Here's that definition from Wikipedia:

"Doublethink, a word coined by George Orwell in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, describes the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts."

Here is the quote from Orwell's 1984 itself:

"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth."

That paragraph matches up well with everything related to LifeVantage.

Update: It seems that LifeVantage Actually Encourages Distributors to Break the FTC Endorsement Guidelines.

Originally posted 2011-09-09 19:27:13.

"I believe LifeVantage’s current science program to encourage or promote issue-specific studies is a sound strategy indeed. Since Big Pharma (through its proxy, the FDA) doesn’t allow supplements to make any disease claims, I think it’s important for the scientific literature to make those claims for us. Most people can then make the connection and understand how Protandim can be a positive part of their health regime."

It is worth noting a three things here:

1. Paul Myhill admits that LifeVantage is "encouraging" the studies. This seems to mean that the scientific community is not independently interested in studying Protandim. This explains why the research is all tied back to LifeVantage.
2. The other interesting thing here is that he seems to admit this effort isn't about studying Protandim, but it is about putting scientific literature out there to market towards the average person.
3. Finally Paul Myhill defames the pharmaceutical industry with an unfounded claim that the government organization, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) works as a proxy for their interests.

Originally posted 2011-06-04 18:23:15.

However, Dr. Harriet Hall has commented on LifeVantage Protandim... twice in fact. She admits to a a quick, informal, somewhat snarky answer debunking the claims of Protandim. Even though it is now more than 6 years old, it is a worthwhile read, so you can see Protandim's roots.

Fast forward to August of 2009 with the publishing of the third study related to Protandim and she felt the need to address the topic once again: Protandim: Another Kind of Antioxidant

There are number of worthwhile quotes that are worth addressing. Let's dig right in:

"What is Protandim? It’s a combination of Milk thistle, Bacopa extract, Ashwagandha, Green tea extract, and Turmeric extract. I looked these up in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. None of them is known to have any significant clinical benefit from antioxidant effects."

When discussing one of the studies Dr. Harriet Hall makes a point:

"I could only find one study suggesting that TBARS levels might be helpful in predicting outcome in patients who already have cardiovascular disease. This review article critiques TBARS and other measures of antioxidant activity and suggests that measuring isoprostanes might be more meaningful."

This calls into question the validity of TBARS which is a major point used in the LifeVantage Protandim FAQ.

On the topic of relying on the blood test results instead of patient results she has the following to say:

"It’s all very well to show that a remedy changes blood test results or even a known marker for disease; but what we really need to know is whether it improves health, prevents cancer, prolongs life…We need POEMS: Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters. Avandia improves hemoglobin A1C levels in diabetics but increases mortality. Mortality matters a lot; Hgb A1C levels don’t matter so much. 'The operation was a success but the patient died' is not good enough."

There was also this quote that I thought was interesting:

"The second study listed above really intrigues me. They tested the individual components and apparently established that there was a marked synergism when the ingredients were combined. If this is true, it is unusual and deserves further investigation. In general, mixing natural medicines has produced additive but not synergistic effects, despite the claims of naturopaths that synergistic effects are common and are a basic principle of herbal medicine."

This is a doctor clearly publicly calling the research into question as it is “unusual and deserves further investigation.”

It was called into question almost two full years ago. Has there been any further investigation on this research?

I have not found any.

Originally posted 2011-06-04 20:13:03.

I just came across a video that can rightly be called a smoking gun. The following video was posted to YouTube by LifeVantage distributor Christi Baus from Daily Life Source on October 3, 2011, accompanied by the following caption:

“A young boy with a failing heart, gets a second chance thanks to Protandim.”

[Editor's Note: The video has been taken private by Christi Baus. However, it serves the public interest to have this illegal act available for consumers to witness.]

The video, shot on the first day (April 14, 2011) of the LifeVantage Convention held at Salt Lake City’s Convention Center, opens with company president and former CEO David Brown passing a microphone to a distributor from South Dakota named Randy Antonsen, who proceeded to tell a 6-minute story about the ongoing medical treatment of his 7-year old son’s heart condition and alleges that it was Protandim that somehow miraculously cured him. The damning (i.e. illegal) portion of Antonsen’s “testimony” came at the 4 minute mark, as follows (the disjointed syntax is not a transcription error):

Antonsen: “We started him (Paul) on Protandim, and I’ll let my wife explain how I got to that, but we started him on Protandim in December of this (sic) year. Without the cardiologist knowing about it, because we researched about it and they did not know the knowledge of it, so we researched it quickly and basically uh, found out the information, started him on Protandim, went in January of this year and they gave us records of July of last year – his function was 31% — his function, and from what we can gather from our best of knowledge – he was supposed to have an appointment, hadn’t made it – best of our knowledge is that his function – we’re going to have an appointment soon, so we’re hoping it continues that way –his function went to 45 [CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] And the left side of his heart in July of last year was 51 centimeters and at his last appointment it dropped down to 41…When we were there in Iowa City, we decided — I asked the doctor; I asked the transplant doctor — I told him, I says, I says ‘can you explain him to me’. He looked me in the eye and he says ‘we have no medical explanation for him’. He, by the doctor’s explanation, he should not have been running around; he should not have been active. Matter of fact you put him in a room with perfectly healthy kids and you can’t tell the difference between him and anyone else.

More background details on Antonsen and the LifeVantage conference can be found here and here

At the very least, what we’re witnessing here is the President of the company, David Brown, giving his tacit blessing to the use of disease-cure testimonials in the training of LifeVantage distributors and the marketing of Protandim. Not only did Brown do nothing to stop this illegality from taking place (i.e. Brown aided and abetted this illegal activity), it is a fairly safe assumption that Antonsen’s illegal testimonial was pre-arranged and orchestrated by LifeVantage senior staff with prior knowledge that distributor would be violating US law.

LifeVantage can never again argue that they are not directly complicit in the use of illegal medical claims in the marketing of Protandim.

Now let’s consider some of the broader implications. LFVN is a publicly-traded company, and in their annual filings to the SEC, they have identified various risk factors that can impact the company’s business and the shareholders investment. The risk factors discussed pertain directly to the claims that Antonsen made with Brown’s oversight and blessing. The following risk factors are included in LifeVantage's 10K filing:

“Adverse publicity could also increase our product liability exposure, result in increased regulatory scrutiny and lead to the initiation of private lawsuits.”

We are subject to the risk of investigatory and enforcement action by the FTC: We will always be subject to the risk of investigatory and enforcement action by the FTC based on our advertising claims and marketing practices. The FTC routinely reviews product advertising, including websites, to identify significant questionable advertising claims and practices. The FTC has brought many actions against dietary supplement companies based upon allegations that applicable advertising claims or practices were deceptive or not substantiated. If the FTC initiates an investigation, the FTC can initiate pre-complaint discovery that may be nonpublic in nature. Any investigation may be very expensive to defend and may result in an adverse ruling or in a consent decree."

The FDA may determine that a particular dietary supplement or ingredient is adulterated or misbranded or both, and may determine that a particular claim or statement of nutritional value that we make to support the marketing of a dietary supplement is an impermissible drug claim, is not substantiated, or is an unauthorized version of a “health claim.” Any of these actions could prevent us from marketing that particular dietary supplement product, or making certain claims for that product. The FDA could also require us to remove a particular product from the market. Any future recall or removal would result in additional costs to us, including lost revenues from any product that we are required to remove from the market, which could be material. Any product recalls or removals could also lead to liability, substantial costs, and reduced growth prospects.

LifeVantage’s form 10-K filed with the SEC acknowledges directly that the use of medical claims could result in censure by the FTC and/or FDA leading to investigations and regulatory actions that substantially harm the value of the company’s stock.

Based on what we saw from the David Brown video, he is failing, as the company President, in his responsibilities to the company’s shareholders by placing the company at risk for regulatory action by the FDA and FTC.

Editor's Addition

I'd like to add that the not only is this video proof of criminal activity, but it also shows that LifeVantage Policies and Procedures are simply window-dressing for the FTC and FTC. Here's a reminder of one section of it:

"8.11.2 – Product Claims
No claims, which include personal testimonials, as to therapeutic, curative or beneficial properties of any products offered by LifeVantage may be made except those contained in official LifeVantage materials. In particular, no Independent Distributor may make any claim that LifeVantage products are useful in the cure, treatment, diagnosis, mitigation or prevention of any diseases or signs or symptoms of disease. Not only are such claims violations of LifeVantage policies, but they potentially violate federal and state laws and regulations, including the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and Federal Trade Commission Act."

As you can see LifeVantage only includes this clause so that they can protect themselves in the case that a LifeVantage distributors makes an illegal medical claim. They have the signed document that effectively says, "It isn't our fault that our distributors break the law. We have it in writing that we told them not to." However, at every opportunity they get, they are pushing information at distributors that leads them to believe that they can make these claims.

In addition, this article mentioned that they flew the boy to the event and surprised him on the stage. Imagine putting a boy on stage in front of hundreds of people and then surprising him. That sounds like a checklist of things NOT TO DO to a person with a heart condition. Then again, if you are LifeVantage, why do you care about the welfare of the boy, when you can use him to convince distributors that the product helps with medical conditions that it simply hasn't been shown to do.

LFVN has nowhere to hide now. No more plausible deniability or trying to blame this on low-ranking distributors. The cat is out of the bag. Illegal marketing is at the core of the marketing strategy for Protandim. This is unlikely to end well for LifeVantage.

Originally posted 2011-11-21 22:34:03.