DENVER (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the developers and marketers of the LearningRx “brain training” programs have settled to pay $200,000 and agreed to stop making allegedly false and unsubstantiated claims.
The FTC had said LearningRx Franchise Corp and its CEO, Dr. Ken Gibson, made allegations that their programs were clinically proven to help with conditions like ADHD, autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, strokes and concussions. The company marketed these allegations through its website and blog, as well as Facebook, Twitter, print and radio ads and direct mail pieces. The FTC believes these claims were inaccurate and therefore deceptive.
“Companies that say they can significantly improve serious health conditions or how your brain functions in everyday situations need to back up those claims with sound science,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “In this case, the defendants couldn’t show their training provides the health or other real-world benefits they claimed.”
The proposed order that will settle the FTC charges bans the defendants from making any allegations about their program that are inaccurate, including claims about increasing performance in work or athletics or improving cognitive function unless the claims can be substantiated by human clinical testing.