Home shopping network QVC Inc., and throat lozenge maker Quigley Corp., have agreed last week to stop making unsubstantiated claims about a throat lozenge.
The terms of the tentative agreement would end administrative proceedings against the two companies by the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC had alleged that Quigley failed, in its direct response radio, television print ads and infomercials on QVC, to substantiate claims about the ability of its Cold-Eezer or Cold-Eeze brand zinc throat lozenges for adults, and Kids-Eeze Bubble Gum, to prevent colds, ease allergy symptoms or reduce the severity of a child's cold.
Both companies, under the terms, would be prohibited from making any claims about the lozenge's ability to "cure, treat, or prevent disease, or will have any effect on the structure or function of the human body without having competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the claim."
Neither QVC, based in West Chester, PA, nor Quigley, based in Doylestown, PA, admitted any wrong doing and are not required to pay civil damages under the agreement accepted 3-1 by the commission.
Commissioner Sheila F. Anthony said she had opposed terms of the Quigley settlement because it didn't "adequately address" the firm's conduct in the marketing of the product to children. She had voted against the agreement and had pressed for additional sanctions.
Before being finalized, the settlement agreements are subject to public comment for the next 60 days.
