According to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune, Xango has been contacted by the FDA over promotion of it’s mangoteen product.
The FDA, in a Sept. 20
letter to XanGo, said it has "serious concerns" regarding the promotion
of the Lehi-based company’s mangosteen juice concentrate, a dietary aid
that sells for $35 a bottle and generates hundreds of millions of
dollars a year in sales for XanGo.
The FDA obtained brochures promoting the health benefits of
mangosteen juice through contact information provided at a XanGo
recruitment seminar. Using a telephone number provided by seminar
staff, the FDA ordered the "Mangosteen Brochure Combo Pack," according
to the letter.
The brochures say mangosteen juice combats, among other diseases, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, cataracts, cancer and viruses such as HIV.
The FDA gave XanGo 15 days
to notify the agency what steps it had taken to keep distributors from
"promoting your product in a manner that violates" the law.
XanGo agreed the materials cited by the FDA are problematic
and possibly illegal. But the company insisted FDA is confused about
who produces them, a point they plan to make in their response.
The brochures are published and sold by Sound Concepts of Orem,
a third party that piggy-backs on the popularity of XanGo juice and
other mangosteen supplements. Jared Frei, regulatory attorney for
XanGo, said the two companies have a "symbiotic relationship," in that
both prosper from the success of each other, but they are financially
independent.
This is a good example of how important it is to pay special attention to how claims are worded… We've seen this so many times before.