FTC settles pain relief device case for $4 million

If you live with chronic and severe pain, over-the-counter devices that promise powerful, drug-free relief can be tempting, even if they’re costly. But, before you invest in products that promise life-changing results, read about the FTC’s $4 million settlement with the marketers of a device known as Quell.

Quell is a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device. TENS devices use electrodes to deliver low-voltage electrical currents through the skin and may relieve minor pain at the site where they’re applied.

According to the FTC, Quell’s ads claimed it could do much more. The ads said that Quell — when worn as directed, on the upper calf, just below the knee — caused the release of “natural pain blockers,” resulting in pain relief throughout the body from serious conditions like osteoarthritis, nerve damage, sciatica, shingles, and fibromyalgia.

The problem, according to the FTC: NeuroMetrix, Inc., the company behind Quell, and company founder and CEO Shai Gozani, didn’t have scientific evidence to back up their pain relief claims. The FTC says the defendants added to the deception by claiming that Quell was “clinically proven” to deliver widespread chronic pain relief and “cleared” by the FDA for that purpose. Those claims, the FTC says, were flat-out false.

The result, according to the FTC: people shelled out up to $299 for Quell devices, plus $30 for a one-month supply of replacement electrodes.

Under the settlement, the defendants must pay the Commission $4 million, which will be returned to Quell customers. The settlement also bars the defendants from claiming that Quell or any other device can relieve chronic or severe pain throughout the body — or has any other health benefit – unless they have scientific proof.

Before you try an expensive health product that promisesmiraculous results, talk with your doctor or other healthcare professional.

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