The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public of Kim Kardashian's misleading Instagram post that promotes a morning sickness pill. Apparently, the celebrity who has over 42 million Instagram followers violated the federal drug promotion rules by failing to share the side effects and other critical information.
"OMG. Have you heard about this? As you guys know my #morningsickness has been pretty bad. I tried changing things about my lifestyle, like my diet, but nothing helped, so I talked to my doctor. He prescribed me #Diclegis, and I felt a lot better and most importantly, it's been studied and there was no increased risk to the baby," Kardashian wrote in her post which is already removed from the social media site.
Diclegis is a morning sickness treatment that helps control the symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting, throughout the day. It is often prescribed to pregnant women who are not responding to traditional treatments. The drug's official website says that it has not been studied in women with hyperemesis gravidarum or persistent, severe vomiting. The most common side effect is drowsiness so users are warned not to take it if they will be engaging in activities requiring alertness. It is also not recommended to women with asthma and problems with their eyes, stomach, and the bladder. However, all these critical information was not mentioned in Kardashian's post.
"The Office of Prescription Drug Promotion... has reviewed the Kim Kardashian Social Media Post. The social media post is false or misleading in that it presents efficacy claims for DICLEGIS, but fails to communicate any risk information," the FDA wrote in a letter.
Duchesnay, the Canada-based company that manufactures the drug, confirmed that they are paying Kardashian to promote the drug and that they had asked her to remove the social media post.
"Duchesnay is working very hard to take quick action in responding to the FDA's letter and are working out a plan to submit to the FDA," Duchesnay spokesman Laney Landsman said to the Washington Post.
Kim Kardashian is currently five months pregnant on her second baby with Kanye West. Her spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
