Rite Aid Corporation, Harrisburg, PA, has agreed to pay $500,000 in consumer refunds to settle FTC charges of false and deceptive advertising related to its “Germ Defense” tablets and lozenges.

Rite Aid marketed the Germ Defense products by touting their similarity to “Airborne” products in their ability to prevent and treat colds and the flu or reduce the severity and duration of these illnesses. FTC has also charged Rite Aid’s supplier, Improvita Health Products, Inc., Cleveland, OH, with false and deceptive advertising in an ongoing case.

“This settlement is one ‘cold remedy’ that works,” said Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman. “The FTC will hold retailers accountable for the claims they make on their store brand products.”

Rite Aid will pay $500,000 for consumer redress under the agreed-upon final order. The company is required to post a refund notice, along with postage-pre-paid refund request forms, in a clear and conspicuous location in the cold-and-flu aisle at each of its stores for 60 days beginning October 1. Consumers will have until December 31 to submit refund requests for up to six packages of Germ Defense.

Also under the settlement agreement, Rite Aid may not claim that any Rite-Aid-label version of Airborne, or any Rite-Aid-label food, drug or dietary supplement can reduce the risk of or prevent colds or flu, reduce the severity or duration of colds, or boost the immune system unless the claims are truthful, not misleading and substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence.

Rite Aid and Improvita marketed several flavors of Germ Defense lozenges and tablets as dietary supplements that contained vitamins C and E, zinc and echinacea. They claimed the products could reduce the risk of or prevent colds and flu; protect against or fight germs; reduce the severity or duration of a cold; protect against colds and flu in crowded places; and boost the immune system, according to the complaints. The FTC charged that there is inadequate evidence to support these claims.

In the case against Improvita, FTC charged the company with deceptive acts or practices and with making false advertisements in violation of federal law. Improvita allegedly supplied the Germ Defense products to Rite Aid and other retailers, and provided advertising, packaging and promotional materials containing the unsubstantiated claims. Improvita also sold Germ Defense directly to consumers via an Internet site, according to the complaint. Thomas Klamet and Daniel Kohler, both principals in the Cleveland, OH-based company, were also charged in the complaint.