Move Free promised joint relief its ingredients couldn't deliver — $53M settlement

Schiff's Move Free Advanced line was marketed as relieving joint pain and stiffness: glucosamine and chondroitin for cartilage, 'support joint comfort' on the label. A class action filed in 2017 alleged the products did not perform as advertised — the plaintiffs' scientific evidence said glucosamine and chondroitin have no beneficial effect on joint health, and the court found a triable question whether the third ingredient, calcium fructoborate, delivered the claims either.

The court also rejected Reckitt's shield: FDA label approval does not immunize a supplement from false-advertising claims, and 'support joint comfort' read as a disease claim — treating pain and arthritis symptoms — not a mere structure-and-function claim. In 2021 the company agreed to pay around $50–53 million, the largest false-advertising settlement ever for a retail product of this kind, covering buyers from 2015 onward.

The case is the supplement industry's warning shot: health claims on a label are claims in court, and the science behind each ingredient — not the marketing around them — is what gets examined.