PHILADELPHIA — Imagine a world without the aroma of morning coffee or buttery popcorn.
Hundreds of people around the country blame a common over-the-counter cold remedy for taking that joy from them: Zicam nasal gel, which is designed to ease the symptoms and shorten the duration of colds.
Last month, Matrixx Initiatives Inc. of Phoenix, maker of the popular Zicam products for colds, flu, sinuses and allergies, agreed to pay $12 million to settle lawsuits involving 340 plaintiffs. They said they suffered anosmia, or smell loss, after using the zinc-based gel, which is put into the nose with a pump.
The firm admitted no wrongdoing and vowed to continue to "vigorously defend itself" in court. Sixty-one additional cases are pending, some involving Zicam's nasal swabs. The company's sprays and lozenges are not at issue.
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No plaintiffs or attorneys returned phone calls over the last week.
Matrixx spokesman Robert J. Murphy said the company had spent $12 million in legal fees since the first Zicam product-liability suit was filed about 2 1/2 years ago. He called the settlement, announced in the midst of cold season, "strictly a business decision."
And business is good. Matrixx's net sales rose 40 percent to more than $46 million for the nine months that ended Sept. 30, compared with the same period in 2004.
The firm makes 22 products in the $3.5 billion retail cough and cold category, and it says its nasal gel is the only one on the market. Last year Matrixx introduced a new, gentler spray tip to replace the pump, but the pump still can be found on store shelves in some areas.
Zicam products are widely considered "alternative," rather than mainstream, and are classified by the Food and Drug Administration as homeopathic remedies. That means they can be marketed as drugs but are held to a lower standard of safety and effectiveness. As alternatives grow in number and popularity, that oversight difference becomes increasingly controversial.
According to the FDA's adverse-event database, 133 Zicam users reported having problems in 2004, the latest year available. Most involved the nasal gel and loss of smell, but because smell heavily influences taste, these people likely also suffered taste loss.
