Big Pharma Wants Vitamin B6 Banned

(Originally Posted On Jan 5, 2012)

Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) is water-soluble and thought to be involved in more body processes than any other nutrient, making it one of the most important B vitamins.

Obviously there can’t be any controversy surrounding such a vital nutrient… right?

Think again…

Unbeknown to most, this important little vitamin has been in a downright battle.

Reported by Alliance for Natural Health:

On 30 November 2007, Medicure Pharma submitted a citizen’s petition to FDA that asserts that all dietary supplements containing pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (“P5P supplements”) are adulterated under FDC Act § 402(f).

Despite the fact that P5P is the bioactive—and natural—form of vitamin B6,

Medicure want to see the product banned from sale by the US dietary supplement industry because its marketing of P5P-containing supplements undermines the company’s incentive to continue developing its drug product (MC-1).

So What Does This Mean For Vitamin B6?

Medicure Pharma, Inc. has petitioned the FDA to ban the sale of Vitamin B6.  Once again Big Pharma wants to promote and market “their form” of a vitamin.

In this case, it is Vitamin B6. And then (of course) it will be marketed as a drug.

How could they do this you ask? Easy. In fact, they have a history of doing this. The following vitamins and supplements are just a few of those that were either banned or petitioned to ban in lieu of a drug:

• Niacin → Niaspan
• Red Rice Yeast → “Statin” drugs (Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol, etc.)
• L-Tryptophan → SSRI Anti-Depressants (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, etc.)

Recent studies have shown Vitamin B6 to be effective in treating multiple health conditions, especially ischemia (described as an inadequate flow of blood to an area of the body or organ). And this got the attention of Medicure Pharma, Inc.

They started studying the effects of this vitamin and renamed it “MC-1”. The kicker here is… they then submitted the use of “MC-1” to the FDA for approval…as a drug!

So, as with other natural supplements “converted” to drugs, the price of this renamed “drug”, MC-1, can be marked up for sale a thousand percent higher than what the vitamin is actually worth!

And of course, now you’ll need a prescription to get it!

If this were to happen, then every natural product that contains Vitamin B6  would be banned as well. This would be a big problem considering that B Vitamins work best together.

But if vitamins are considered foods and are not drugs, how can they be banned?

The answer is both simple and clever.

By renaming Vitamin B6 MC-1, Vitamin B6 now “contains a drug,” the drug being MC-1.  MC-1 is not considered a food…although of course it is still Vitamin B6.

…and around and around we go!

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