SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) — Johnson & Johnson, Walgreens, Walmart and others are facing a class action over their marketing of Phenylephrine as a treatment for nasal congestion.
Kenneth Levi Pack and others filed a complaint Sept. 12 in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of California against Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies Inc., GlaxoSmithKline LLC, The Proctor & Gable Company, Walgreen Co., Walmart Inc., CVS Pharmacy and others, alleging fraud and other claims.
Pack claims in his class action that the defendants advertised and marketed Phenylephrine products to consumers despite knowing the drug is ineffective for the treatment of nasal congestion and cold and flu symptoms and falsely promoted its use. He alleges that the defendants failed to truthfully represent to consumers the facts regarding the ineffectiveness of Phenylephrine.
He further alleges consumers have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damages due to their reliance on the deceptive and fraudulent representations made by the defendants. Pack claims consumers would not have spent their "hard-earned money" to purchase the products to help with congestion if the defendants had not claimed they work for the purpose of relieving congestion due to cold and flu symptoms.
Pack and the class seek monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Christopher Rodriguez and Andrew Bluth of Singleton Schreiber LLP in Sacramento, California.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of California case number 2:23-CV-01965-AC