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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Supplement maker, dealer told to stop
Supplement maker, dealer told to stop
Biomed Comm vows to fight to sell homeopathic remedies
Thursday, April 26, 2007
By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER
The owner of Biomed Comm, a Seattle-based dealer in natural supplements sold online and in stores worldwide, has been accused of illegally manufacturing and selling drugs and engaging in the unlicensed practice of medicine.
The state Board of Pharmacy on Wednesday sanctioned Barbara Brewitt, owner of Biomed Comm, for manufacturing and selling homeopathic products containing substances such as human growth hormone and insulin -- including a kind of chocolate called "Cocoa Bliss Bears" with human growth hormone marketed as a relief for menopause.
"We're not aware of any evidence of harm, but we're not going to wait for such evidence," said Lisa Salmi, acting executive director for the board. "Biomed Comm did not have appropriate safeguards in place to manufacture drugs safely ... these are drugs."
They ordered her to stop selling drugs, but Brewitt contends what her business provides are not drugs and are not subject to regulation by the state pharmacy board or the Department of Health.
"I do not believe that the state has the authority or the expertise to understand or regulate complementary medicine," she said. Her firm deals in homeopathic remedies -- highly diluted substances made according to the theory that water exposed to active drugs or other therapeutic substances retains a healing "memory" no matter how diluted the solution.
On the Biomed Web page, products such as Endurance Plus for men are still advertised and sold over the Internet.
Brewitt, who said she continues to sell her products but no longer manufactures them, denies the board's allegation that she misrepresented herself as a physician in order to obtain human growth hormone and other substances to make the remedies.
In 1989, Brewitt received a doctorate in biology from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She describes the basis of Biomed as a combination of her interests in molecular biology, "bioelectric medicine" and homeopathy. The company's signature approach to therapy is trademarked as a "Cell Signal Enhancer."
Brewitt said she has retained an attorney and intends to challenge the state's authority to regulate her products. Biomed Comm has been a licensed business in Washington since 1996 and, apparently, did not run afoul of state regulators until Brewitt applied for a license to manufacture her products.
"We had a manufacturing plant that we were trying to get up and working in Woodinville when they shut us down," Brewitt said. A Biomed competitor bought out her previous manufacturer, based in Nevada, she said. So Brewitt applied to the state health department to begin making their own products here.
"I have been faithful trying to dialogue with (state officials)," she said.
Donn Moyer, spokesman for the health department, acknowledged that the agency had no knowledge of Biomed's practices before Brewitt's application. But once investigators started looking into the firm, Moyer said, they discovered Brewitt engaging in many violations of the law governing drug manufacture and the practice of medicine.
"We learned from her employees that she had been manufacturing these drug products for as long as 10 years, selling them worldwide on the Internet as well as locally at places like Walgreens, Costco and General Nutrition Centers," he said.
A cease-and-desist order was issued by the board last year, Moyer said, prior to the board's final ruling issued Thursday.
He said investigators will look into whether Biomed's continual sales of products constitutes a violation of that order.
Brewitt, in any case, intends to fight the state on this one. She said she has formed a legal defense fund and joined with other organizations that believe many state and federal regulatory agencies are structured to favor traditional medicine and squelch any form of alternative medical practices.
ENDURANCE PLUS
Endurance Plus is advertised as a product for men who want more energy. It is said to contain recombinant insulin such as growth factor 1 -- "An ingredient not taken from human or animal extracts but rather synthetically produced from a perfect human blueprint, sugars, phosphates and proteins using good manufacturing practices."
Supplement maker, dealer told to stop
Supplement maker, dealer told to stop
Biomed Comm vows to fight to sell homeopathic remedies
Thursday, April 26, 2007
By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER
The owner of Biomed Comm, a Seattle-based dealer in natural supplements sold online and in stores worldwide, has been accused of illegally manufacturing and selling drugs and engaging in the unlicensed practice of medicine.
The state Board of Pharmacy on Wednesday sanctioned Barbara Brewitt, owner of Biomed Comm, for manufacturing and selling homeopathic products containing substances such as human growth hormone and insulin -- including a kind of chocolate called "Cocoa Bliss Bears" with human growth hormone marketed as a relief for menopause.
"We're not aware of any evidence of harm, but we're not going to wait for such evidence," said Lisa Salmi, acting executive director for the board. "Biomed Comm did not have appropriate safeguards in place to manufacture drugs safely ... these are drugs."
They ordered her to stop selling drugs, but Brewitt contends what her business provides are not drugs and are not subject to regulation by the state pharmacy board or the Department of Health.
"I do not believe that the state has the authority or the expertise to understand or regulate complementary medicine," she said. Her firm deals in homeopathic remedies -- highly diluted substances made according to the theory that water exposed to active drugs or other therapeutic substances retains a healing "memory" no matter how diluted the solution.
On the Biomed Web page, products such as Endurance Plus for men are still advertised and sold over the Internet.
Brewitt, who said she continues to sell her products but no longer manufactures them, denies the board's allegation that she misrepresented herself as a physician in order to obtain human growth hormone and other substances to make the remedies.
In 1989, Brewitt received a doctorate in biology from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She describes the basis of Biomed as a combination of her interests in molecular biology, "bioelectric medicine" and homeopathy. The company's signature approach to therapy is trademarked as a "Cell Signal Enhancer."
Brewitt said she has retained an attorney and intends to challenge the state's authority to regulate her products. Biomed Comm has been a licensed business in Washington since 1996 and, apparently, did not run afoul of state regulators until Brewitt applied for a license to manufacture her products.
"We had a manufacturing plant that we were trying to get up and working in Woodinville when they shut us down," Brewitt said. A Biomed competitor bought out her previous manufacturer, based in Nevada, she said. So Brewitt applied to the state health department to begin making their own products here.
"I have been faithful trying to dialogue with (state officials)," she said.
Donn Moyer, spokesman for the health department, acknowledged that the agency had no knowledge of Biomed's practices before Brewitt's application. But once investigators started looking into the firm, Moyer said, they discovered Brewitt engaging in many violations of the law governing drug manufacture and the practice of medicine.
"We learned from her employees that she had been manufacturing these drug products for as long as 10 years, selling them worldwide on the Internet as well as locally at places like Walgreens, Costco and General Nutrition Centers," he said.
A cease-and-desist order was issued by the board last year, Moyer said, prior to the board's final ruling issued Thursday.
He said investigators will look into whether Biomed's continual sales of products constitutes a violation of that order.
Brewitt, in any case, intends to fight the state on this one. She said she has formed a legal defense fund and joined with other organizations that believe many state and federal regulatory agencies are structured to favor traditional medicine and squelch any form of alternative medical practices.
ENDURANCE PLUS
Endurance Plus is advertised as a product for men who want more energy. It is said to contain recombinant insulin such as growth factor 1 -- "An ingredient not taken from human or animal extracts but rather synthetically produced from a perfect human blueprint, sugars, phosphates and proteins using good manufacturing practices."
