An advertisement promoting a vitamin supplement that purportedly boosts immunity against COVID-19 has been shared in multiple Facebook posts. The advert includes a stamp that appears to show the product was approved by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A mix of Tagalog and English text is overlaid at the bottom of the photo, which reads: "AGAINST CORONA VIRUS / Let\s boost our immune system!”, Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, Identical adverts\xa0that make identical claims about the product were also shared on Facebook here, here and here., However, the claims are false., “Honey C is unregistered and the advertisement is misleading,” FDA Director General Rolando Enrique\xa0Domingo told AFP in a text message on April 16, 2020., The FDA, which regulates food and pharmaceutical standards, also issued an advisory on April 8, 2020 that “sternly warned” the manufacturers to halt misleading advertisements., “Appropriate regulatory tools and sanctions shall be executed to such companies that are continuously conducting such and other similar activities,” the statement read., “The public is hereby advised to be vigilant against such deceptive marketing of food products and food supplements.”, Below is a screenshot of the FDA advisory, which includes the product photo shown in the misleading online posts:, “Honey-C” was also among the list of unregistered food supplements the FDA warned the public against purchasing in a September 18, 2019 advisory., Moreover, both the FDA and the World Health Organization maintain that no effective treatment for COVID-19 has yet been approved., More than 150,000 deaths and 2.2\xa0million infections from COVID-19 have been recorded globally since the disease was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019, according to WHO data as of April 19, 2020., New Amity Food Supplement Trading, the manufacturers of Honey-C, did not respond to requests for comment from AFP., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Philippine regulators deny the supplement is approved and warn against ‘deceptive marketing’ related to COVID-19 | AFP Fact Check