A Southern California man who invented the cold treatment gel Zicam has been charged with illegally importing and marketing a drug that he touted as a cure for bird flu.
Charles B. Hensley, 57, was arrested this week at his Redondo Beach home on a 12-count federal indictment. Federal authorities said that Hensley sold the drug Vira 38 to prevent and treat bird flu even though the drug never was approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
He pleaded not guilty on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and was released on his own recognizance and a $5,000 bond.
As the Daily Breeze reports, the FDA warned his company in 2005 — at the height of the avian influenza scare — not to sell Vira 38 because there was no scientific evidence showing that the drug was safe or effective in treating the illness.
Unlike products sold as dietary supplements, substances that are marketed as cures for treating diseases must receive pre-market approval from the FDA.
In Hensley’s case, “His problem was claiming that this treats disease. You can’t just decide to take it upon yourself to say this treats a serious disease, particularly something like bird flu,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Pio Kim told the Los Angeles Times.
Hensley marketed the product on the website for his company PRB Pharmaceuticals, authorities said.
His lawyer, Richard Jaffe of Houston, told Times that Vira 38 is a natural supplement made from “four teas you can find in any health-food store.”
“As bad of shape as the federal government is in, this is a case you have to prosecute?” Jaffe said. “No one was harmed. Is this really worthy of a federal prosecution?”
The federal indictment accuses Hensley of shipping 26 bottles of Vira 38 from Hong Kong to customers in the U.S. Hensley originally had tried to sell the drug in Hong Kong, and when authorities there would not approve it, Hensley started marketing it on the Internet, Kim said.
Hensley faces a maximum sentence of 28 years in federal prison. His trial is scheduled to begin July 26.
In the 1990s, Hensley patented a zinc-based gel that was marketed as a cold remedy to be swabbed inside the nose. Sold under the brand name Zicam, it was taken off the shelves in 2009 by the FDA because it was found to damage users’ sense of smell. The manufacturer, Matrixx Initiatives, continues to sell Zicam in the form of sprays, lozenges and syrups.
Let’s look at what is really happening here. This Charles Hensley has been on the FDA’s, the AMA’s and the Fed’s radar for a long time–for selling something that threatened the profits of Big Pharma. Wake up, people! This product may be like snake oil, but is not toxic. On the other hand, most of the drugs that people use (so-called “meds”) are toxic, poisonous garbage that kills the liver, kidneys, heart and other organs and are pushed by the ever-corrupt FDA. Yes, people, your wonderful U.S. FDA is just a huge mouthpiece and conduit for the greedy, profit taking pigs that run the global pharmaceutical industry. Most people also forget or are not aware the FDA is continually seeking to protect Big Pharma from any competition. Zicam does work for many people because it has a version of zinc gluconate, which has been shown to clinically reduce the symptoms of the common cold if taken early enough. A little history lesson here for the ill informed: The U.S. FDA pulled L-tryptophan supplements from the U.S. market in the early 1990s due solely to a single contaminated batch from Japan. There was (and still is) nothing inherently wrong with L-tryptophan supplements. Years passed before these supplements were finally eased back onto the U.S. market. But, the damage was already done and many people are still afraid of L-tryptophan. Meanwhile, cyanide-laced Tylenol was only pulled from the market for a mere few months. Why? The answer is too much money was being lost from one of the FDA’s main financial and political backers, Johnson & Johnson, one of the political and financial pigs in the legalized drug trafficking that is killing millions of Americans each year and leaving our seniors with ESRD (end stage renal disease). Your wonderful so-called “FDA-approved” drugs are killing far more people than this supplement ever will.
throw this bastard into jail!
People, all you have to do is follow the money trail with the FDA and AMA. This guy is just a target because he interfered with the profits of Big Pharma.