A pharmaceutical company which promoted a milkshake supposedly “clinically proven” to help children grow taller will have to explain itself in court after being accused of “misleading” marketing by a grandmother.
“(Abbott Laboratories had access to studies that) completely debunked any notion that its milkshake could help children grow taller. The marketing was misleading and Abbott knew it was,” said James Denlea, the plaintiff’s lawyer, according to the “New York Post.”
On Friday, an American judge in New York City put obstacles in the way of the pharmaceutical company Abbott, which had gone to court to try to dismiss the lawsuit of a grandmother accusing it of having misled its customers in error on one of its products.
For a year, plaintiff Joanne Noriega deplored having purchased the PediaSure Grow & Gain drink (“grow and gain” in French) to help her 8-year-old grandson gain a few centimeters because he was “small for his age,” said the American media.
Except that the supposedly “clinically proven” product according to its label, which promised to help children grow taller, instead had the effect of making the little one “so overweight” that she stopped using it.
However, according to Judge Paul Engelmayer, the company would have stubbornly sold its product as a solution to improve growth, even if it had in its hands three studies, financed by itself, which would have concluded otherwise.
“The existence of studies contradicting the label’s assertion supports the plausibility of the complaint’s allegation that the label would mislead a reasonable consumer,” the district judge wrote, ruling to give the green light to the plaintiff according to the “NY Post”.
The class action, whose total amount for damages has not been specified at this time, hopes to bring justice to all New Yorkers who may have been duped into obtaining the expensive product.
