On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued seven separate warning letters to companies who were allegedly advertising their CBD products as potential treatments for COVID-19. The companies included in the warning letters were Cureganics, Heaven’s Organics LLC, Functional Remedies, LLC (doing business as Synchronicity Hemp Oil), Greenway Herbal Products LLC, CBD Social, UPSY LLC, and Nature’s Highway.
The FDA notes that each of the seven companies advertise “CBD products for sale in the United States and that these products are intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people.” Since each of the aforementioned companies are advertising unapproved new drugs, their warning letters from the FDA explain that they are in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
The press release issued in regard to the warning letters notes that the companies claim or imply, in a misleading manner, that their CBD products are effective in hindering the effects of COVID-19. However, the FDA has never “approved or authorized any drug containing CBD for the treatment of prevention of COVID-19.” The FDA also expresses its worry in the press release that the false advertising may lead consumers to delay or stop appropriate medical treatment in favor of the CBD products that are falsely advertised by the companies.
The FDA regularly issues warning letters in which they identify a violation that the receiver of the letter must correct. Warning letters are often issued due to a company having poor manufacturing practices, incorrection product usage directions, or in the case of the aforementioned warning letters, problems with claims for what a product is intended to do. The warning letter will also contain a date by which the issue must be rectified. In the case of these warning letters, each company has 48 hours to respond to their respective letters.
