A bill sponsored by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch that will require manufacturers of dietary supplements to report adverse reactions to their products has cleared the House and Senate and now awaits President Bush's signature.
Chief U.S. District Judge Garrett Brown in Trenton, New Jersey, on Nov. 3 approved diet drug maker Nutraquest's bid to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection forced three years earlier by multiple ephedra-related lawsuits.
The Nutraceutical Corporation has requested a rehearing before the entire 19-member 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in an effort to have the FDA ban on the controversial diet supplement ephedra eased.
The various parties involved in the bankruptcy proceedings of diet-drug maker Metabolife International agreed September 26 to settle most of the personal injury lawsuits tied to the company's ephedra-containing diet supplement for $56 million.
Two judges, one in San Diego and one in New York, have threatened court action to end ongoing squabbling by the various parties involved in the bankruptcy proceedings of the now-defunct diet-drug maker Metabolife.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ban on ephedra was upheld August 18 when a federal appeals court in Denver ruled that the FDA had correctly adhered to a congressional mandate in determining that ephedra is unsafe.
Nutraquest Inc. agreed June 15 to settle for $1 million a suit brought by California prosecutors accusing the diet-pill maker of deceptive practices in marketing its ephedra-containing products.
Ex–dietary supplement maker Metabolife International Inc. is asking the bankruptcy court to approve a $4.7 million settlement to close 21 personal injury lawsuits totaling $130.4 million filed because of health problems caused by its ephedra-containing supplement Metabolife 356.
FDA attorney Christine Kohl argued May 8 in Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the reversal of a Utah judge's ruling that allowed the sale of ephedra in doses up to 10 milligrams.
Emax Enterprises has filed suit demanding return of a shipment of confiscated ephedra products. Meantime, the FDA will argue May 8 in a Denver appeals court for reversal of a pro-ephedra ruling.
Two years after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Nutraquest and dozens of other companies have agreed on a multimillion dollar settlement of injury claims related to the use of ephedra.
Despite the Food and Drug Administration's ban on products containing ephedra in 2004, a few products containing the weight loss additive are back on the market.
Research performed at the University of California, San Francisco discovered that two ephedra-free diet supplements, Advantra Z and Xenadrine EFX, posed health risks similar to ephedra-based supplements.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger singed a bill on Friday that prohibits high school athletes from using the nutritional supplements ephedra, synephrine and DHEA.
Metabolife International Inc., a San Diego-based retailer of several weight loss supplements containing the banned herb ephedra, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to falsifying tax returns. The company will be sentenced in December.
A judge in Cook County approved a $16 million settlement against Northwestern University for the wrongful death of Rashidi Wheeler. Northwestern officials contend Ephedra supplements led to Wheeler's death, though Wheeler's mother, Linda Will, still holds the athletic department responsible.
Fayette, Mississippi resident Zandra Gray pled guilty to wire fraud on Friday in the federal Fen-Phen settlement investigation. Gray will be sentenced on Sept. 23 and faces up to 20 years in prison.
A study published in the June 2005 issue of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics stated that weight loss supplements containing ephedra and guarana may be harmful to obese people who suffer from clogged arteries, glucose intolerance, or high blood pressure.
Nutraquest, makers of an ephedra based weight loss product, will pay nearly one million dollars to settle claims of false advertising.
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