Friday, November 28, 2008

USANA is in the PDR... So what?

USANA often likes to parade it's inclusion in the Physician's Desk Reference as a claim to superiority over other products, a justification of it's inexcusably high prices. The Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) is a reference book used by physicians and has a section on supplements.

As it turns out, being included in the PDR doesn't really mean anything. The company that makes PDR doesn't do any analysis whatsoever of the information included. Any manufacturer of supplements can simply buy their way in.

Here's a quote from the Thomson Reuters Healthcare TOS. That's the company that makes the PDR.

TRHC does not warrant or guarantee any of the products described, prices supplied, or medical device information contained, and does not perform any independent analysis in connection with any of the product descriptions. TRHC does not assume, and expressly disclaims, any obligation to obtain and include any information other than that provided to it by its third party sources. It should be understood that by making this material available TRHC is not advocating the use of any product described in this site, nor is TRHC responsible for misuse of a product due to typographical error. Additional information on any product may be obtained from the manufacturer.


As you can see, TRHC simply takes whatever information is given by the manufacturer and publishes it. They do not endorse the product or make any claims about it's superiority over other (not included) products. So any USANA rep using a product's inclusion in the PDR to support claims of superiority over other products is clearly a violation of false advertising.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree but what about usana nutritionals being the first in the medicinal side of the PDR

Justin said...

Do does that mean all the listed driugs in this guide are a waste of time too and may not do what they say !!! Guess you need to get your facts straight first

Unknown said...

Justin, Usana pays to list a bunch of their products in the PDR and other such books so that they can use this in their deceitful sales pitches. They imply that Usana is listed in these books because of some superiority or that this is a endorsement or recommendation,when it is not. Usana provides whatever information they want, pay the fee and it gets published. Usana listing these products means absolutely nothing other than that Usana is deceitful and a snake oil scam.

A legitimate company would not use these deceitful sales tactics.

Guess you need to get your facts straight first hey.