NOW St. John’s Wort Supplement is Mislabeled, Class Action Says

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A class action filed against Now Health Group Inc., makers of the popular brand of NOW supplements and other natural products, alleges that the company misleads consumers regarding its St. John’s Wort pills.

The complaint contends that NOW’s advertising that its supplement is made from a “standardized extract” and contains “min. 0.3% Hypericin” is false and deceptive.

The NOW St. John’s Wort dietary supplement “did not contain consistent amounts of the sole active ingredient standardized extract, hypericin, [as] listed on its label,” according to the class action. “Despite having knowledge that the Product’s labeling is deceptive, misleading, and constitutes a fraud on consumers, NOW continues to advertise, distribute, label, manufacture, market, and sell the Product in a false, misleading, unfair, and/or deceptive manner.”

The lawsuit states that the market for vitamins, supplements, and minerals was roughly $32 billion in 2012, and is expected to grow. The complaint argues that many companies look to cut corners in producing such supplements, particularly herbal supplements because they are “exempt from the strict regulatory oversight applied to prescription and over-the-counter drugs.”

NOW has attempted to appear to provide the same level of reliability, with its “standardized extract” label. NOW claims on its website that “standardized herbal extracts” have “one or more components present in a specific, guaranteed amount, usually expressed as a percentage.”

Contrary to NOW’s advertising that its St. John’s Wort contains a “specific, guaranteed” amount of at least “0.3% hypericin,” the class action asserts that independent testing shows the products actually contain much lower amounts. The complaint cites a report from ConsumerLab.com, a “consumer watchdog group,” which found that the amount of hypericin in NOW’s St. John’s Wort was only 45.5 percent of the advertised amount.

Furthermore, the complaint states that they did their own testing, which found even lower levels of hypericin – 0.0181 mg, or only 20.1 percent of the claim on the NOW label.

The NOW St. John’s Wort false advertising class action lawsuit states that “scientific literature has shown benefits with the Product,” but only at the lowest dose of 0.9 mg per day. The complaint notes that 0.9 mg is exactly the dosage promised on NOW’s supplement label. So the class action argues that NOW is “fully aware” that consumers would seek this dosage amount, and rely on NOW’s false and deceptive advertising.

Plaintiff Stefania Daidone Maniaci states that she has purchased NOW St. John’s Wort several times over the past three years. Maniaci claims that she intentionally read and relied on the “standardized extract” labeling, and that she would not have bought the product had she known the truth.

The false advertising lawsuit requests certification of multiple Classes. The first is a national Class of all persons who purchased NOW St. John’s Wort. The second is an action under consumer protection laws in the states of California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. Finally, the complaint also asks for a subclass of all purchasers just in New York.

The plaintiff seeks damages, including punitive and statutory damages, as well as an injunction that would stop NOW from continuing its false and deceptive advertising.

Maniaci is represented by Michael J. Gabrielli of Gabrielli Levitt LLP.

The NOW St. John’s Wort False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Stefania Daidone Maniaci v. NOW Health Group Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-02991, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.