SUMMARY
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Claim: Goutto, a registered effervescent tablet under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), treats gout.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: A video containing the claim has 797,000 views, 933 shares, and 1,900 comments, as of writing. Several advertisements on social media dating back to 2020 also make this claim.
The bottom line: Fresh Life Pharmaceuticals JSC, distributor of Goutto, said in an email to Rappler that their product does not claim to cure gout but only to relieve the pain it causes.
In another email on behalf of Fresh Life Pharmaceuticals JSC, lawyer Winilyn Joei Sancho told Rappler on Thursday, October 6, “the company is currently processing the FDA registration and license to sell here in the Philippines.”
On October 17, Sancho notified Rappler that Zoma secured a license to operate from the FDA on October 14. Goutto’s Certificate of Product Registration is still being processed.
According to the Philippine FDA, imported products, medicine and drugs included, must register with them before importation and sale. The administration, pursuant to their Administrative Order 2020-0017, requires all establishments to secure a License to Operate and Certificate of Product Registration (CPR) before acts of importation, sale, distribution, promotion, and advertising. Violation of the said act is penalized under Section 11 of Republic Act 9711.
Not behind circulating advertisements: Sancho clarified Zoma and Fresh Life’s transaction started just this 2022, and they were not behind the circulating advertisements on social media and the internet which claim the product cures gout.
Zoma, through Sancho, said they are making ways to detect unauthorized distribution and marketing of its products. They added that their official website is still under construction.
No cure for gout: According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, there is no cure for gout, but one can effectively treat and manage the condition with medication and self-management strategies.
Pain can be managed: CDC also noted that one can only manage the pain of a flare by taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, steroids, and the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine.
Furthermore, one can also prevent future flares and manage gout conditions by changing one’s diet and lifestyle, eating less purine-rich food which increase uric acid in the body, losing weight, and limiting alcohol intake.
Purine-rich foods: Foods high in purines are red meat, organ meat, and some types of seafood, such as anchovies, sardines, mussels, scallops, trout, and tuna. – Ailla dela Cruz/Rappler.com
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