Dietary Supplements: “GNC shares plummet after Oregon sues over supplement ingredients. The lawsuit alleges General Nutrition Corporation or GNC sold nutritional and dietary supplements containing illegal ingredients.”
What is Picamilon and BMPEA?
I know the GNC article is older news by now, however I wanted to give everyone some more information about these harmful ingredients.
Picamilon from Wikipedia
Picamilon (also known as N-nicotinoyl-GABA, pycamilon, and pikamilon) is a drug formed by a synthetic combination of niacin and GABA.
In Russia, picamilon is sold as a prescription drug. The rights to the drug belong to the Russian pharmaceutical company NPK ECHO (“НПК ЭХО”). It is not approved for sale in the United States.
[4]In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration ruled in 2015 that picamilon does not fit any of the dietary ingredient categories in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994,[14] namely that it is not a vitamin; a mineral; an herb or other botanical; an amino acid; a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of any ingredient described above. This led to the removal of picamilon from various supplements manufactured in the US.[15]
The Lawsuit
The lawsuit alleges General Nutrition Corporation or GNC sold nutritional and dietary supplements containing illegal ingredients.
“Despite widespread knowledge that Acacia rigidula (or AR) products sold by GNC were at high risk of having been spiked with BMPEA, David J. Sullivan continued to sell products that contained AR without testing these products to determine whether it was adulterated with BMPEA”, the suit reads. “If the FDA is unable to take action, and the health and safety of Oregonians are threatened, Oregon can move in quickly to fill the regulatory void”, Hart said in a statement.
The state said the drugs are picamilon, a Russian prescription medicine for neurological conditions, and BMPEA, a synthetic replacement for amphetamines. Selling supplements with those ingredients violates the Oregon Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
GNC shares plummet after Oregon sues over supplement ingredients
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