A dietary supplement trade group founded by Jarrow Rogovin plans to aggressively protect the industry’s interests, including filing lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests.

The founder and president of Jarrow Formulas is incorporating the Dietary Supplement Manufacturers and Marketers Association in Washington and is securing commitments from member companies.

Los Angeles-based Jarrow Formulas is a former member of the Natural Products Association, but Rogovin maintains the strategies NPA and the other major trade groups employ are ineffective compared to DSMMA’s planned approach.

“We would be much more creative and aggressive, and we would actually follow through and serve the interests of the industry” via FOIA requests and lawsuits if necessary, he said in an interview.

Jarrow Formulas President Jarrow Rogovin

Jarrow Formulas President Jarrow Rogovin

Additionally, DSMMA intends to take an aggressive stance in its public relations, especially against misinformation about the supplement industry, Rogovin said.

“The canard that the industry is unregulated must end,” he said. “This will be met aggressively and with evidence otherwise every single time it’s made.”

Food and drug attorney Todd Harrison, a partner in the Washington office of Venable, signed on as DSMMA’s general counsel.

Differences Of Opinion

Rogovin’s tactics, including past information requests filed with FDA and with California agencies, has not endeared him to NPA, the Council for Responsible Nutrition and other supplement industry stakeholders.

In 2007, Rogovin sought documents from Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., after the then-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee claimed supplements “are killing people” (Also see "Dingell Challenged To Document Reasons For Supplement Safety Doubts" - Pink Sheet, 19 March, 2007.).

More recently, he said he was preparing a FOIA request seeking FDA documents related to the appointment of former NPA executive Daniel Fabricant as head of the agency’s supplement office (Also see "Trade Groups Dismiss Jarrow’s Criticism Of FDA’s Fabricant" - Pink Sheet, 5 September, 2011.).

Part of Rogovin’s split with NPA stemmed from disagreement over FOIA requests, which he described during an interview at the Natural MarketPlace trade show in 2009.

“We’re doing the NPA’s work,” he said then. “The trade association should be doing this. They have the resources. That’s what they’re supposed to be for.”

NPA says it does not shirk from filing FOIAs, but more than one strategy is necessary to effectively represent the industry.

NPA has submitted FOIA requests “when circumstances warranted,” President and CEO John Gay said.

“In this very passionate industry there are those whose initial reaction to a legislative or regulatory threat is to fight,” Gay said in an email.

“My 25 years in Washington tell me that fighting is not always the right answer,” he added.

He pointed out that after Sens. John McCain and Byron Dorgan in 2010 introduced legislation requiring FDA to create a list of "acceptable" supplement ingredients, which essentially would impose pre-market approval on all supplement products, NPA did not temper its response.

“We believed the main points of the bill were so bad that compromise was not an option, so we, and others fought hard and won,” Gay said.

Personal Reasons A Factor

Rogovin’s break with NPA was personal, too.

He says that at Natural MarketPlace in 2009, after a keynote address by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, NPA deliberately did not allow him to ask Harkin a question in an effort to “humiliate” him.

Dissent between Rogovin and others in the supplement industry continues. Following Rogovin’s recent request that FDA transfer Fabricant from the supplement office due to a conflict of interest, NPA and CRN leaders made their disagreement clear.

Rogovin said Fabricant is overly aggressive with the new dietary ingredient notification draft guidance and he would prefer that FDA replace Fabricant with a “more reasonable” official.

Group Forms Amid Calls For Unity

The establishment of DSMMA comes just as other trade groups are urging industry unity in responding to FDA on the NDI notification guidance.

NPA leader Gay said in a recent message to stakeholders, “It is very important that the industry present a consistent and clear voice to the FDA to avoid giving the agency opportunities to divide us.”

He said NPA works with other associations in the sector to present a united front on NDIs and other issues. “Industries that have varying messages going to policymakers are not making a strong case.”

Rogovin is participating in the development of several NDI comments, including planned submissions from his company, DSMMA, and the International Probiotics Association, of which Jarrow Formulas is a member.

Michael McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association president, also has been vocal about a unified industry front on the NDI issue (Also see "Supplement Industry Must Make United Response To NDI Guidance – AHPA" - Pink Sheet, 19 September, 2011.).

During a session with Rogovin at Natural Products Expo East in September, McGuffin said AHPA members already are well-served by the trade group and said another supplement association risks diluting the industry’s message in Washington.

However, “I would not tell anyone to refrain from doing whatever they believe they need to do to protect their business,” McGuffin added in an email.

By Dan Schiff

Jarrow Formulas Founder Forms “More Creative” Supplement Trade Group

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