Tell the FDA to leave vinpocetine alone! Retweet
By Jim Babka & Perry Willis
Remember kratom? It’s the non-opioid painkiller with no side effects, no addiction risk, and no reports of adverse reactions. So naturally the DEA wanted to outlaw it. Please remember that we opposed this. And the DEA backed down! Now we need to apply the same pressure with…
Vinpocetine
This substance, extracted from Periwinkle, has been used as a dietary supplement for decades. It improves blood circulation in the brain. If you’re not taking it you probably should be. Alas…
The FDA wants to take if off the supplement market. Why? Well, it seems like some pharmaceutical company wants to turn it into a drug, thereby placing in under patent. The patent would allow said company to charge monopoly prices for what now costs mere pennies.
Can we stop this from happening?
We think we can, just like we did with kratom. And the reason we think so may surprise you.
Unelected bureaucrats are often more responsive to public pressure than Congress is.
Members of Congress have to take votes on things. Bureaucrats don’t. They can just make rulings, and those ruling will often bow to public resistance. In fact…
Remember our new Engage software we’re working on?
It will help us pressure the bureaucracy. We can’t do that with our current system. We expect this new capacity to result in more victories once we have it in place early next year. But we don’t have to wait to take action on vinpocetine.
Our attorneys have written a powerful, well-documented letter to the FDA showing that they really don’t have the power to remove vinpocetine from the supplement market.
This letter shows that the FDA is prohibited from regulating supplements that are extracts of botanicals, which vinpocetine surely is. The letter also makes several other powerful arguments.
Can you help us pay the bill for this letter? We’ll send a copy of the letter to anyone who contributes for this purpose.
Thank you for being an ACTIVE DC Downsizer!
Jim Babka & Perry Willis
P.S. In our October “Action Item” we observed, “Vinpocetine has been safely used by millions of Americans since the 1980s. Over 600 studies available through… pubmed.gov [which] show that it has tremendous neurological benefits. There are no reported negative side effects. Even the FDA has presented evidence that vinpocetine can be protective against stroke and Alzheimer’s.”
We’ve already agreed to help pay for this professional letter to the regulators at the FDA. We hope you’ll contribute to this additional, leveraged action. Let’s win this one, just like we did with kratom.