Court orders Georgia company to stop selling vitamin D products as COVID-19 cure
Company allegedly marketed drugs as COVID-19 treatments
A federal court ordered a Georgia company Friday to stop selling vitamin D products that it claimed could cure and treat COVID-19.
Matthew Ryncarz is accused of selling vitamin D products that he claimed could cure or treat COVID-19 like “Immune Shot,” “Immune Boost,” and “Core" through his companies Fusion Ionz, and Fusion Health and Vitality, doing business as Pharm Origins.
Ryncarz pleaded guilty in a related case last September and admitted that his "Immune Shot" product falsely claimed it could help fight against COVID-19.
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Prosecutors said that he used aggressive pitches to target older consumers by telling them, “The NEXT FIVE MINUTES could save your life,” and “We are offering you the exclusive price of only $19 per bottle because we know that Immune Shot could be the most important formula in the WORLD right now due to the new pandemic."
Last November, Fusion Health and Vitality recalled its CORE and Immune Boost products. According to the company, the labeling on Immune Boost "was found to contain statements that caused it to become [an] unapproved new drug under FDA labeling laws," and CORE had an unapproved food additive called hordenine HCl that is potentially unsafe when swallowed.
Pharm Origins did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
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Prosecutors say that Ryncarz and his company violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by selling unapproved products and making unproven claims about diseases they can treat.
“The Department of Justice will not allow individuals to take advantage of consumers during a public health emergency by making unproven claims about unapproved drugs to profit from public panic,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel J. Feith said Friday.