FIGHTING FOR PRINCIPLES, NOT JUST PRODUCT
PROTECTING YOUR RIGHT TO COMMERCIAL FREE SPEECH
When New York banned the sale of dietary supplements marketed for weight loss or muscle building to anyone under 18, the law threatened far more than two product categories. At stake: the fundamental right to make truthful, science-based claims about legal products—a key component of commercial free speech.
If government can silence truthful claims without evidence that such restrictions actually advance public health, no marketing message is safe. No label claim. No scientific validation. Today it’s sports nutrition; tomorrow it could be any category based on opinion or emotion rather than facts. That’s why CRN is continuing its litigation in New York to repeal the state’s age restriction law.
The court should conduct its own review of evidence rather than defer to disproved legislative statements. The law improperly uses truthful product claims as a stand-in for evidence of harm—a dangerous precedent that threatens the entire industry’s ability to communicate benefits.
Since the law’s October 2023 enactment, there has been no enforcement—evidence that CRN’s lawsuit is forestalling Attorney General action while we fight for constitutional protections.
A GOOD START, BUT NOT ENOUGH: INNOVATION VS. MONOPOLY
Drug preclusion—the provision preventing supplement companies from marketing ingredients under pharmaceutical investigation—has long created unfair competitive advantages.
Though FDA responded to industry petitions on drug preclusion by allowing NMN back into the market—a small victory—the agency declined to address the structural imbalance that prevents fair competition. Secret Investigational New Drug filings mean supplement companies don’t know when the “race to market” begins. By the time it’s discovered an ingredient is precluded, years of research and marketing investment may be wasted, affecting potentially dozens of ingredients.
CRN is now developing legislation to provide clarity and restore fairness to protect supplement innovation by treating precluded ingredients as adulterated products, following FDA’s incomplete action.
Megan Olsen, SVP and General Counsel, leading the team’s New York state age restriction litigation efforts in consult with law firm Cozen O’Connor, shared updates on the case during the CRN Member Breakfast Briefing at SupplySide Global as well as the drug preclusion issue and CRN’s efforts to secure revisions to FDA’s ”DSHEA disclaimer.” Also pictured, CRN’s second annual “Innovation Exchange” event, featuring steering committee-selected presentations on cutting-edge ingredients and technologies.
SCIENCE, STANDARDS & RAPID RESPONSE
