Alfasigma USA, Inc. (''formerly'' Pamlab) is an American
medical food
Medical foods are foods that are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. In the United States they were defined in the Food and Drug A ...
company, and a division of
Alfasigma Group, of
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Italy.
Alfasigma's base of operations is located in
Covington, Louisiana
Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is part o ...
.
History
The company entered the pharmaceutical industry in 1957, initially introducing prescription cough/cold products. In 1987, Pamlab was purchased by Samuel and Judith Camp.
In early 2013, Pamlab was purchased by
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...
Health Science.
In December 2016, Pamlab was purchased by Alfasigma Group of
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Italy.
Legal actions
Alfasigma USA, Inc. was sued by ExeGi Pharma LLC and the Italian inventor of probiotic VSL#3, Claudio De Simone, for making false advertising claims and ownership rights to VSL#3.
According to court documents: "Defendant VSL Inc., and its licensees Alfasigma and Leadiant, having lost the right to sell the De Simone Formulation, decided to manufacture, market, and sell a different, inferior formulation (the “Fraudulent Formulation”) without conducting any tests to determine if the Fraudulent Formulation would be efficacious in any way".
A scientific article published in ''Frontiers in Immunology'' concluded: "These discrepancies may have a major impact on patient safety and on the liability of doctors when they prescribe a probiotic formulation made with different processes at different production sites from the formulation, which generated the original evidence, without properly informing the patients".
A class action related to the VSL#3 scandal was recently opened in the USA.
Products
Alfasigma USA, Inc. produces
medical food
Medical foods are foods that are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. In the United States they were defined in the Food and Drug A ...
s for people with
diabetic peripheral neuropathy, early memory loss/
Alzheimer's,
high-risk pregnancy
A high-risk pregnancy is one where the mother or the fetus has an increased risk of adverse outcomes compared to uncomplicated pregnancies. No concrete guidelines currently exist for distinguishing “high-risk” pregnancies from “low-risk” p ...
,
depression, and other medical conditions.
Some of Pamlab's products include the following:
*
VSL#3
*
Deplin
*
Metanx
Metanx is a prescription medical food made by Alfasigma that contains L-methylfolate (as Metafolin, a calcium salt of vitamin B9), methylcobalamin (vitamin B12) and pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (vitamin B6). It is a vitamin B supplement. Metanx is i ...
*
Cerefolin
*
Cerefolin NAC
* Neevo DHA
* Proxeed Plus
* Colief
* Carnitine Bulk Ingredients
See also
* Nestlé Health Science
*
Medical Food
Medical foods are foods that are specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. In the United States they were defined in the Food and Drug A ...
References
External links
*
Alfasigma USA Human Resources
Nestlé brands
Food manufacturers of the United States
Medical and health organizations based in Louisiana
Medical food
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