The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Matrixx Initiatives is the mother company of Zicam, LLC, a company that offers a line of 19 cold remedies. On June 16, 2009, Matrixx Initiatives posted an announcement on its website that it is withdrawing two nasal cold remedies from the market after receiving a warning letter from the FDA.

The two products are Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, which are homeopathic remedies consisting mostly of zinc. Some consumers have reported that these products have affected their sense of smell, reducing it either temporarily or permanently. The other 17 Zicam products are not mentioned in the FDA letter.

Since these cold remedy products were first marketed in 1999, there have been over 35 million "retail units" sold (which is over one billion doses). Medical and scientific evidence has been gathered and compiled throughout that period, states William J. Hemelt, acting president of Matrixx Initiatives, and it clearly demonstrates the effectiveness and safety of the Zicam products. It is the common cold virus that reduces a person's sense of smell, he states, not any Zicam products.

Previous Lawsuit Settlement
Back in 2006, Matrixx Initiatives agreed to pay $12 million in settlement of 340 lawsuits concerning the Cold Remedy Nasal Gel. Product instructions direct users to use it only in the lower part of the nose, but the plaintiffs claimed that the pump bottles sent the zinc gel too far into the nose. In 2005 a new "control tip sprayer" was introduced to prevent users from spraying the product too forcefully.

Matrixx Initiatives is planning to seek a meeting with FDA personnel and to strongly defend its scientific data, which the FDA did not examine before issuing its warning letter.

If you have used either of these two Zicam cold remedies and experienced a problem with your sense of smell, please contact our defective product attorneys for a free consultation.

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