HIV home tests
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
FTC charges Internet marketer David Rothbart, doing business as Medimax, Inc., with falsely representing that his HIV tests accurately detect the AIDS virus. An Orlando, Fla. federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Rothbart, barring him from marketing or selling the tests and freezing his assets. FTC alleges that, contrary to Rothbart's promotional materials promising his tests are 99% accurate, "nine of ten of Rothbart's HIV tests provided false negative results when tested with HIV-positive blood; the tenth test did not work at all." The commission also takes issue with Rothbart's sale of a "rapid test" that supposedly gives accurate results in 15 minutes; such HIV tests are not approved for U.S. sale, FTC says. In November, Cyberlinx Marketing settled FTC charges the Internet company falsely represented HIV home test kits as accurately detecting the virus (1"The Tan Sheet" Nov. 29, In Brief)