Vitamins, Diet and Sports Nutrition

ALLEGAN. Mich. — Business for OTC store brands is expected to boom in the coming year, Perrigo chairman and CEO Joseph Papa told analysts discussing the private-label manufacturer's first-quarter results during a conference call Wednesday, even as the growth rate across the entire OTC category slows. "What we are seeing though, is the continued acceleration of store brand as being the reason why we're seeing the growth in our OTC category. For us to have a 9.4% growth in our OTC category, we think is a strong indication," Papa said. 

EDGEWOOD, Md. — Nutramax Laboratories recently announced the defeat of a class action lawsuit brought against the company in a California court. In April, Nutramax was named in a class action regarding its CosaminDS Joint Health Supplement. Plaintiffs claimed the glucosamine/chondroitin supplement did not work in relieving joint pain as advertised. 

The opportunity for weight loss certainly hasn’t gone away — sales of diet-aid liquids were up 12.8% to $1.2 billion for the 52 weeks ended Sept. 9 across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart), according to SymphonyIRI. And due to the temporary absence of GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli — unavailable because of a raw-ingredient sourcing issue — sales of diet-aid tablets are down with a 7% decline to a dollar base of 
$205.4 million. 
Alli had been removed from the market in March due to the third-party supply issue and returned in late June. 


PASADENA, Calif. — Playmaker Nutrition is looking to knock multivitamin sales out of the ballpark with a new gummy line targeting teens and tweens. Of course, with sports-stars-cum-company-founders backing their play, the gummies may appeal to more than just kids. The all-start lineup includes Summer Olympics gold medalist and NBA star Kevin Love, Winter Olympics gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden and Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

CHICAGO — A study published Monday online by JAMA may skew the conversation over multivitamin use negatively, despite the fact that study authors maintain the study cannot be generalized across the general population given the study's subjects — namely, practicing physicians. 



Target and CVS are some of the first retailers to group adult multivitamins and supplements available in gummy format into one 4-ft. set. The idea is to make shopping vitamins and supplements easier. For the 12 weeks ended Sept. 9, SymphonyIRI Group tabulated $202 million in sales of multivitamins, up slightly by 0.8%, across food, drug and mass (excluding Walmart).

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Emerson Ecologics, a provider of professional-grade nutritional supplements to practitioners, on Thursday announced its partnership with Douglas Laboratories as its exclusive external distributor for the Klean Athlete line to healthcare practitioners. 

Klean Athlete is a new line of nutritional supplements formulated specifically for athletes to help them achieve optimum health; the complete line is NSF-certified for sport, ensuring that each product has undergone testing and certification to be free of banned substances.

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Nordic Naturals on Wednesday announced the launch of its mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android users. 

“Nordic Naturals is an omega-3 industry leader,” stated Joar Opheim, CEO of Nordic Naturals. “We are pleased to lead the way in offering the convenience of a mobile app to consumers.”