Lanham Act v. FDA: Butt Who Cares?

Bear with me.  Yes, this blog post is about a false advertising case involving hemorrhoid treatments, but the legal issues are really interesting and important.  Trust me.

This case concerns two companies that make hemorroid treatments.  One treatment, Anucort, is alleged to be a leading prescription product, sold by G&W Labs as a hydrocortisone acetate 25 mg suppository.  The other, Hemmorex, sold by Laser Pharmaceuticals, is advertised and labeled as also providing 25 mg of hydrocortisone acetate in suppository form.  However, according to G&W, Hemmorex does not, in fact, provide that amount of the active ingredient; indeed, G&W claims that its lab testing shows that Hemmorex releases less than 20%—that is, less than 5 mg—of the 25 mg labeled amount of active ingredient.  Accordingly, G&W alleges, Laser's claim that Hemmorex is an equivalent to, and substitute for, Anucort, is false and misleading.