Prüvit Signal//Defense Cocktail

“We all need to be functioning at a high level and allow our immune system the best opportunity to fight against these viruses,” cool doctor Ryan Lowery says over stock video footage of a mother staring lovingly into the eyes of her daughter as she adjusts the ear loops on the girl’s face mask. The woman is also wearing a face mask.

Lowery recommends taking Prüvit’s Signal//Defense Cocktail dietary supplement, which he says in the video on the MLM’s website contains “synergistic ingredients” that have been “shown in science to support and boost immune function.” And he should know. Lowery is the president of the Applied Science and Performance Institute. The problem is the Applied Science and Performance Institute is less an institute like, say, the National Cancer Institute, than a fancy gym in Tampa Bay, Florida. Also, Lowery is not an infectious disease expert; according to his About Me page, his background is in “exercise and nutrition science.” That may make him well-suited to run a gym but not to give medical advice on preventing the coronavirus.

Lowery does not refer to the coronavirus or COVID-19 by name in the video but as TINA.org pointed out in a recent article on immunity-boosting claims in the coronavirus era, he doesn’t necessarily need to evoke the name of the virus, which has already killed more than 40,000 Americans, to make an implied disease-prevention or treatment claim requiring substantiation and FDA approval. (The FDA does not review supplements for safety and efficacy before they are sold, much less approve them to treat diseases like the coronavirus.) Not to mention that in addition to the mother and daughter seen wearing face masks at the beginning of the video, later in the video, at around the 3-minute mark, a virus flashes across the screen that looks an awful lot like the rendering of the coronavirus that has been seared in our brains these last couple months.

RELATED: A Growing List of Coronavirus Scams

Remember, readers, there is no known treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus. Here are some things the CDC says you can do to protect yourself and others.

Find more of our coverage on Prüvit’s illegal health claims here.

UPDATE 5/6/20: Following an inquiry by TINA.org, Prüvit removed the above video from its website. The Signal//Defense Cocktail product page on which it had appeared now redirects to a blank page. Separately, on April 24, two days after TINA.org sent its inquiry, the FTC sent Prüvit a warning letter regarding health and earnings claims related to COVID-19.