Rebecca Jancauskas: JGA Saddler director on the lawsuit launched against ‘ineffective’ cold and flu medications

A class action lawsuit launched in Auckland today questioning Johnson and Johnson cold and flu products follows similar suits worldwide.

JGA Saddler has filed a suit in the High Court, claiming the producer knowingly sold an ineffective product.

The US Food and Drug Administration has ruled a key ingredient in Codral, Sudafed, and Benadryl cold and flu products is ineffective when taken orally.

JGA Saddler director, Rebecca Jancauskas says it's sparked a wave of legal action.

"Our firm filed a claim in Australia, in December. A Canadian firm filed a class-action about 12 months ago, and there's also quite a number of claims on foot in America." 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Andrew Dickens ers five point twenty one on supermarkets. Craig
records a warehouse system to service the supermarkets will cost
a billion to set up. That's fair. And you heard
tech say they'd have to have one hundred and forty shops.
That's a lot. Now. One of the largest farmer companies
in the world is being taken to court in New Zealand.
A class action filed today says Johnson and Johnson have

(00:22):
deceived Kiwi customers for years by selling them cold and
flu medication that just doesn't work. In question is the
ingredient fennef h here we go, fenelfrine fenlefrine that is
in the Kodril and in the Suda head. J G. A.
Sadler Director Rebecca Jankowska is the lawyer behind the class action,

(00:45):
and she joins me, now, hello, Rebecca, Hello, So do
they work? Don't they work? They don't work? You reckon?
They don't work.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well. Our class action that we've filed today alleges that
the Qadrill, Pseudofed, and Benadryl range of cold and flu
products that contain fenlefrin are ineffective at treating congestion and
other symptoms of colds and flu. Now these are symptoms
that these products were marketed to treat. Now, the evidence

(01:20):
in respect of the efficacy of fenlefrin is pretty overwhelming.
The studies concerning fenlefren when taken orally, date back to
the sixties and seventies, and they show that fenlefrin is
no more effective than a placebo at treating these symptoms.
So our class action aims to recover the amount spent

(01:42):
by Kiwis on these products for the last twenty years.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Has any other jurisdiction had seen such a claim, such
an action. If you're saying that the evidence, the scientific
evidence that as an effective goes back so far, surely
another country has.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Done it well. We filed at our firm filed a
claim Australia in December, so we have a class action
on foot there. A Canadian firm file the class action
about twelve months ago in Canada and so that claim
is proceeding through the usual steps. And there's also quite
quite a number of claims on foot in America in

(02:17):
respect of these products. So I think we're going to
see further litigation in other countries. But as it stands,
there's there's already a few countries where where cases are underway.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
But you don't have any precedent yet.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
No no cases have yet been determined. Everything is still
in its infancy. And that's because you know this, this
wave of litigation has has been sparked by the Food
and Drug Administration's review. Now they're the regulatory body in
the United States, and in about September of twenty twenty three,
the FDA announced the results of a review that they

(02:51):
had carried out into the efficacy of fenlefrin when taken orally,
and that review showed that fenn lefren simply wasn't effective
in the tablet or the liquid form. So as a
result of that review, we started investigating and have brought
the two class actions that we have.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Finally, if anyone wants to join your class action, how
can they get in touch with it.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
We encourage every New Zealander who's bought one of these products,
whether it's one packet or one hundred packets, to register
visit our website that we've set up for this case,
which is Coldenflu Classaction dot co dot NZ. There's no
need to have receipts or proof of purchase We simply
ask you to tell us on the form how many
packets you think you've bought over what period, and you'll
be registered.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Rebecca jen kowskis from j GA Sailer. I thank you
so much for your time today.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
For more from Hither Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.