FTC sues Tennessee physician over bogus addiction treatment ads

The Federal Trade Commission is suing Dalal Akoury, MD, and a set of companies she controls that operate as AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, for allegedly making false claims about the treatment of addiction, cancer, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions.

The proposed order would bar Dr. Akoury and her clinic from making deceptive claims and from formatting ads that appear to be news or informational programming, the FTC said March 16. It would also require them to pay a $100,000 penalty and have “competent and reliable scientific evidence for any health-related claims they make in advertising and marketing."

Dr. Akoury and her Johnson City, Tenn.-based clinic previously operated out of Myrtle Beach, S.C., the FTC said. The agency has sued her in the past over allegedly false COVID-19 claims on AWAREmed's website, but dropped the suit after the claims in question were removed from the site.

The new FTC suit alleges AWAREmed ran ads boasting unfounded claims of a 98 percent improvement rate for "just about anything" including cancer and other serious chronic diseases. Its website claims that "virtually all patients at any disease stage" would improve at least moderately after treatment at the clinic, the FTC said.

In 2017 and 2018, Dr. Akoury appeared in nearly 100 TV segments hosted by local Fox News affiliate reporters that appeared to be news interviews, the FTC said. It was never disclosed that some of those appearances were actually paid ads placed by Dr. Akoury.

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