Spastic foot treatment under fire

A product registered in South Africa only for treatment of spastic foot deformities has been billed as a Botox-type beauty treatment, the Advertising Standards Authority has been told.

The claim is contained in a complaint by Genop Healthcare, who distribute Botox in South Africa, against Pharmaplan (Pty) Ltd's promotional material for a product named Dysport.

Pharmaplan had billed the product, which like Botox is based on the botulinum neurotoxin, as a "new wrinkle relaxer".

However Genop said Dysport was registered with the Medicines Control Council only for the treatment of "dynamic equinus foot deformity due to spasticity in ambulant paediatric cerebral palsy patients, two years of age or older, in hospital specialist centres with appropriately trained personnel".

Claims it helps with wrinkes, sweating

Ruling on the complaint, the ASA said Pharmaplan had told it that the Medicines Control Council banned it at the end of last year from making claims related to anything other than the uses Dysport was registered for.

Among the impermissible claims were that it reduced facial wrinkles and frown lines, and excessive sweating under the armpits.

"The respondent’s confirmation that it is no longer using the advertising that formed the subject of the complaint appears to address the complainant’s concerns," the ASA said in a ruling published on its website on Tuesday.

"There is therefore no need to consider the merits of the matter at this time." - (AP, March 2010)