CVS agrees to $2.8-million settlement with the FTC

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Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark Corp. will repay about $2.8 million to consumers who bought a dietary supplement that was falsely marketed as a product that can prevent illness, the Federal Trade Commission said today.

AirShield tablets and powders were touted by CVS as a way to fight off the flu and boost the immune system, but there is no evidence that the products could do either, the FTC said. As part of the $2.78-million settlement, CVS agreed that it will no longer make those claims and the company has since changed the products’ packaging.

AirShield is the store-brand equivalent of the national brand product, Airborne. Last year, Airborne Health Inc., the company that makes Airborne, reached a settlement with the FTC for making the same kind of “misleading claims,” the FTC said. The FTC has also reached a settlement with Rite Aid Corporation for its “Germ Defense” products.

CVS issued a statement noting that it had changed AirShield’s packaging in 2008 after the FTC settled with Airborne. The new packaging is ‘consistent with the terms’ of that settlement.

The FTC will contact customers who qualify for the refund. Customers who bought AirShield between July 2005 and November 2008 can be identified if they used a CVS ExtraCare card when they bought the product or if they purchased it on CVS.com.

-- W.J. Hennigan