PORTLAND (AP) – A Portland-based promoter of dietary supplements has agreed to pay $1 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission that it had no scientific evidence to back claims about the products.

Vital Basics Inc. promotes Focus Factor, a supplement it says supports brain function. It used to market V-Factor, which was said to enhance sexual performance. The company no longer sells or markets V-Factor. A 30-day supply of Focus Factor costs $74.95.

The FTC said that in past advertising for the supplements, Vital Basics made specific claims about medical benefits that users could expect, but did not back them up with scientific proof.

“Any claims they make in the future for diet supplement lines they might have – they have agreed that before they make an efficacy claim they have to have competent and reliable scientific evidence behind it,” said Heather Hippsley, the assistant director of the FTC’s division of advertising practices.

Focus Factor ads in 2002 contained unfounded claims that the pills could help adults improve their ability to absorb information and increase students’ concentration and academic performance, Hippsley said.

Jonathan Shapiro, a Portland attorney representing Vital Basics, said that although Vital Basic does not agree that all of the claims about the supplements could not be substantiated, the company changed its advertising 15 months ago and no longer makes those types of claims.

“Everything that’s been running since January 2003 has been reviewed and the company believes it’s in full compliance with all advertising and FTC laws and regulations,” he said.

Vital Basics admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to the consent order, which will go into effect after a 30-day public comment period.

“This is a business decision to put this matter behind them,” Shapiro said. “As we all know litigation is very expensive and the company decided to put it behind them and go forward.”

Vital Basics president Robert Graham was the founder and president of Talk America, Inc., a Portland telemarketing firm that employed as many as 750 call center workers before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999. The company sold the call centers and its marketing arm later emerged from the reorganization and was renamed Vital Basics. Third-party contractors now answer calls about products Vital Basics promotes, Shapiro said.

Assistant Attorney General Linda Conti said she had planned to look into consumer complaints about Vital Basics, before the FTC started an investigation.

“We were forwarding our complaints to the FTC,” Conti said. “As far as I was concerned that was a great relief, that the federal government was going to take that off of us.”

The Attorney General’s office filed suit last fall against Jungle MD, a marketing firm that failed to honor money-back guarantees on products they claimed prevented hair loss and promoted slimming.

AP-ES-03-17-04 1725EST