Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14511

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Silverman E.
FDA Warns Bayer About Aspirin Marketing
Pharmalot 2008 Oct 28
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/10/fda-warns-bayer-about-aspirin-marketing/#more-17025

Full text:

The agency sent a pair of warning letters to Bayer HealthCare concerning what it calls two “unlawful,” over-the-counter aspirin products – Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin + Calcium (Bayer Women’s) and Bayer Aspirin with Heart Advantage (Bayer Heart Advantage). Here is letter one (http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6991c.htm) and letter two (http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6990c.htm).

The products, which contain aspirin with either phytosterols or calcium, are unapproved new drugs that require an approved new drug application in order to be legally marketed, according to an FDA statement (http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01907.html). In addition to being labeled for use as a pain reliever, both products are labeled for use in reducing the risks of heart disease. Bayer Women’s is also labeled for use in “fighting” osteoporosis.

However, the FDA says that “neither product has been approved by the FDA for such uses.” These drug uses require a health care professional’s diagnosis and supervision, and so the aspirins cannot be labeled for use by consumers and sold over-the-counter, the agency says, adding that there are no indications of any significant adverse events.

“The marketing of these unapproved drugs is troubling,” Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in the statement. “Because OTC drugs are widely used by consumers, without supervision by a doctor or other health care professional, the overuse or misuse of these aspirin-containing products can put consumers at risk for internal bleeding and other adverse events. It is essential that companies obtain FDA approval and fully comply with FDA regulations.”

Interestingly, the move comes just two weeks after the House Energy & Commerce Committee sent letters to US Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Bayer as part of an inquiry into why Bayer ignored FDA recommendations to refrain from marketing a version of its aspirin that is also a dietary supplement (back story).

Bayer Heart Advantage combines aspirin and phytosterols in a single tablet. Bayer Women’s combines aspirin and calcium carbonate in a single tablet. The products are labeled as being a combination of a drug and a dietary supplement, but when a drug and a dietary supplement are combined in a single tablet, the FDA says the product is regulated as a drug.

According to the labeling, the phytosterols in Bayer Heart Advantage are intended to lower blood cholesterol and the calcium in Bayer Women’s is intended to strengthen bones to fight osteoporosis. Although certain calcium-containing dietary supplements may bear claims to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, products that are labeled to “fight” or otherwise treat osteoporosis are drugs that require FDA approval, the FDA says in its statement.

Similarly, although certain phytosterol-containing dietary supplements may bear claims to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, and may note that the mechanism by which phytosterols achieve this effect is through lowering blood cholesterol, direct claims to lower cholesterol are claims to prevent or treat coronary heart disease and hypercholesterolemia, which is also a disease. Products bearing such claims require an approved new drug application from FDA in order to be legally marketed, and cannot be legally marketed for OTC use, according to the FDA statement.

And the FDA goes on to say: Under its OTC drug monograph system, FDA allows some drugs to be marketed without first obtaining agency approval. These drugs must comply with applicable monographs, that is, regulations that set requirements for the labeling and formulation, as well as the indications for which the drugs can be marketed. OTC drugs that do not meet these requirements and that lack FDA approval are considered illegal, unapproved drugs. Bayer Heart Advantage and Bayer Women’s do not meet the conditions in any applicable OTC monograph, and do not have FDA approval. And so, Bayer Heart Advantage and Bayer Women’s are unapproved new drugs.

In addition, Bayer Heart Advantage and Bayer Women’s are misbranded because their labeling lacks adequate directions for use by consumers. In order for a drug to have adequate directions for use, the directions must be written so that consumers can use the product safely for its intended purpose, without the supervision of a health care professional. The use of these products for treatment of heart disease and osteoporosis requires diagnosis and supervision by a health care professional to ensure safe use, the FDA says in its statement.

Therefore, it is not possible, in OTC drug product labeling, for these products to have adequate directions for their intended uses. The products also are misbranded because their labeling do not have adequate warnings and are misleading. Among other things, the labeling for the aspirin in the products includes directions and warnings regarding short term use, but these directions and warnings are contradicted by other directions for the phytosterols and calcium that promote the products’ daily use without any time limits. The result is a mixed message about the products’ purposes and the length of time for which the products can be safely used.

Today’s actions reaffirm the position taken by FDA in two previously issued Warning Letters – one sent to BF Ascher regarding Melagesic PM, and the other to Omni Nutraceuticals regarding Inholtra Joint Pain products. In those letters, the FDA stated that drug ingredients combined with dietary ingredients in a single dosage form require agency approval to be legally marketed in the US, the FDA says.