Allergan doesn't support "Diets fail! The Lap-Band works!"

The photos from the LA Times make me wish I took more photos of the advertising campaigns in California while I was there several times, because it really IS, un-real.

But, this is a slice of realistic news from Allergan, they don't necessarily like or endorse what is on those silly billboards which tout their product.

Los Angeles Times

The chief executive of Lap-Band maker Allergan Inc. said he doesn't support an independently run Southern California billboard marketing campaign that promotes the weight-loss surgery with slogans such as: "Diets fail! The Lap-Band works!"

"That isn't the wording I would use. We put patients' welfare and safety at the top, so I wouldn't support it," David E.I. Pyott said in an interview Wednesday.

The Irvine company does not fund the 1-800-GET-THIN ads that were created by a marketing company that directs prospective patients to clinics that perform the weight-loss procedure using Allergan's device. The Lap-Band is a silicone ring that's surgically fitted over part of the stomach to discourage overeating.

Pyott's statements mark the first time the chief executive has publicly questioned the high-profile advertising campaign. His remarks came as the Food and Drug Administration considers Allergan's request to allow the surgery on less-obese patients, a decision that would add millions more Americans to the pool of potential customers.

Pyott said Allergan is in the process of producing guidelines to be distributed to surgeons advising them that any advertising should include clear statements about the risk associated with the stomach-banding surgery.

Although the guidelines would not be binding, Pyott said he hoped to prevent the billboard marketing campaign from spreading to other regions of the United States. He did not say when the company would distribute its advertising recommendations.

The weight-loss surgery advertising campaign is conducted by a marketing company called 1-800-GET-THIN. People who call the toll-free number are screened and some eligible patients are referred to facilities that perform the Lap-Band procedure, said Robert Silverman, an attorney who said he represents the marketing company.

"Like Allergan, 1-800-GET-THIN is fully committed to patient safety and full compliance with all legal requirements associated with the marketing of the Lap-Band medical device," Silverman said in an e-mail statement. "All new television, radio and billboard ads already contain specific disclosures that address the risks associated with the Lap-Band procedure.

"1-800-GET-THIN looks forward to receipt of the guidelines being created by Allergan and anticipates that the current risks disclosures will meet or exceed the guideline recommendations of Allergan. 1-800-GET-THIN has never received any complaint from Allergan regarding any advertisement campaign."

Three Southern California patients have died after Lap-Band procedures, according to family members and autopsy reports in Los Angeles and Riverside counties. The most recent was Lawndale resident Tamara Walter, who died in December after Lap-Band surgery at a clinic in Beverly Hills.