A judge rules in a New York City grandmother’s lawsuit for misleading consumers that the company’s PediaSure Grow & Gain energy drink is “clinically proven” to help children grow taller. It rejected Abbott Laboratories’ efforts to dismiss it.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan said Friday that Joan Noriega’s complaint provides “strong, evidence-backed reasons to doubt Abbott’s claims that clinical studies support the company’s marketing claims. ”.
Noriega cited three studies funded by Abbott himself that found no link between PediaSure and height growth.
“The existence of research that contradicts the label’s claims strengthens the plausibility of the complaint’s allegation that the label misleads reasonable consumers,” Engelmayer wrote.
Abbott and his attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.
Noriega, who lives in the Bronx, bought Pediasure Grow & Gain vanilla and strawberry drinks for her 8-year-old grandson, who is “short for his age,” believing it would help him grow taller. he said. She told Pediasure that she had been drinking two drinks a day for a year, and although her grandson was still short, she had stopped buying him drinks because he was “very overweight.” she said.
Noriega’s attorney, James Denley, said in an interview that he was pleased with the decision, which will allow his client to gather more evidence through discovery.
Abbott had access to research that “proved that the idea that milkshakes could help children grow is completely false,” Denley said. “The marketing was misleading, but Abbott knew it was true.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from New Yorkers who were tricked into purchasing or overpaying for PediaSure.
Mr. Abbott said “PediaSure” It’s for kids It targets children ages 2 to 13 and helps them “grow from the at-risk weight-for-height percentile (5th to 25th percentile)” within eight weeks.
PediaSure is part of the Abbott Park, Illinois-based company’s pediatric nutrition division, which also includes Pedialyte and Similac.
The case is Noriega v. Abbott Laboratories, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-04014.
