MHRA acts on Viteyes' AMD claims

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has taken action against the supplier of Viteyes, ordering it to change the presentation of the eye-related supplement.

A complaint was made to the Agency that the Viteyes range, marketed in the UK by Butterflies Healthcare, claimed the product could prevent age-related macular degeneration.

Full product information was requested from Butterflies by the Medicines Borderline Section so the claims made for the product could be assessed. It concluded that the supplement fell within the definition of a medicinal product. Preparations in this category can only be sold with appropriate licences which this product does not have.

Butterflies Healthcare was advised that the claims were unacceptable and the company has started to revise its product materials. The website has already been changed.

David Carter of the Medicines Borderline Section said that as the company was co-operating with the MHRA, statutory action was unnecessary.

'However, if our advice had been sought initially, the company could have avoided the trouble and expense of revising and reprinting product labels and marketing material,' he said.