@sarge17, I wrote to ASX with reference to the VivaGel CRL a few weeks ago, which is the most obvious case of non-compliance imo. I'm following my own lines of enquiry at the moment on this and other products and diclosures and am awaiting a response for most of those, including from Starpharma itself. In the meantime, I did receive a response from Which? this morning. Here it is, for what it is worth (typos included):
Dear Mr XXXXX,
Complaint Ref XXXXX
Thank you for your email. I’m sorry you have a reason to complain.
We always aim for our articles to be informative. I’m sorry you feel this has not been the case.
The product (in its current form) hasn’t been put through human clinical trials. This has been confirmed by the manufacturer, Starpharma when we spoke to them.
We haven’t claimed that the product isn’t safe or that it wasn’t effective but we reported on the fact that there are rules around the level of claim that medical devices can make and that ViralEZE fell foul of these. As the leading consumers association for the UK, it is something we feel strongly about when looking to protect consumers from potentially false claims.
Our report gives facts on a decision that the medicines regulator has made and that both the retailer and manufacturer have complied with. To pursue this matter further, you should speak with the Medicines and Healthcare product regulatory Agency (MHRA) as they are the ones who ultimately decided to suspect the product from sale, being the regulator. We haven’t called for the regulator to remove the product from sale - our ask to them was aimed around transparent and responsible marketing which is reflected in our
article.
I hope that my email has helped to alleviate your concerns and I’m able to bring this matter to a close? If you wish to discuss this further, can you please provide a telephone number and I’ll give you a call.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
Chris XXXXX
Complaints Handler
