07.01.02
The NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has halted studies that were to be conducted on the herbal supplement PC-SPES, which was recalled earlier this year. As a result of the recall, the manufacturer of the product—BotanicLab—was forced out of business and officially closed its doors in June. According to the Tan Sheet, 5/27/02, BotanicLab said it does not have any plans to sell its proprietary formula to others in the industry and it would not sell the formula to NCCAM to allow the studies to restart due to legal considerations related to the class action suit, which could take several years to resolve. As a result of this, NCCAM is expected to impose stricter standards on products used in research it funds in light of PC-SPES contamination problems.