FDA to Kim Kardashian: Remove “misleading” morning sickness medication endorsement
Taking Diclegis may have helped Kim Kardashian overcome her morning sickness, but her subsequent promotion of it on social media created a whole different problem. The FDA recently fired off a strongly worded letter to the drug’s parent company, Duchesnay, demanding Kim take down the post:
The social media post is false or misleading in that it presents efficacy claims for DICLEGIS, but fails to communicate any risk information associated with its use and it omits material facts….By omitting the risks associated with DICLEGIS, the social media post misleadingly fails to provide material information about the consequences that may result from the use of the drug and suggests that it is safer than has been demonstrated.
The FDA also noted that Duchesnay got a similar warning in 2013 for leaving out risk information from the press release in which they announced the approval of Diclegis.
It seems the drug company took the FDA seriously this time, though, because Kim has since deleted all of her posts referencing the medication.
After posting a praise-filled Instagram post about Diclegis in July, Kim said she was only endorsing the prescription with good intentions.
“I felt so much better after starting treatment. Duchesnay [the manufacturer] connected with me after I’d been taking Diclegis for some time,” she said. “Since I had such good results, I wanted to work with Duchesnay to tell other pregnant women that Diclegis is a safe and effective option to treat morning sickness symptoms.”
The problem is, that isn’t universally true. As Kim failed to note, the drug is contraindicated for women with certain hypersensitivities and isn’t suggested for women suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum.
