A retired Boulder pharmacist who makes an immune booster developed by the Soviets during the Cold War is suing a California company he says is violating his trademark.
In a complaint filed March 3, John Sichel claims that Allergy Research Group Inc. is using misleading marketing to sell a dietary supplement fashioned after his Del-Immune V.
Among Allergy Research’s tactics, the suit says, is to misdirect potential Del-Immune customers to its website.
“These guys have really just hijacked my website, and now what they’re doing is a bait-and-switch for customers,” Sichel said.
Officials for Allergy Research, based in Alameda, Calif., did not return a call for comment Thursday. The company has not filed a response to the suit.
Sichel owns Boulder-based Pure Research Products, whose pills contain a bacterial culture developed by Soviet scientists during the 1980s to protect against biological attacks.
Sichel says he has exclusive worldwide marketing rights for the culture, called lactobacillus rhamnosus, which comes from unpasteurized cow’s milk.
The pills, sold as an immune-system booster, were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002. Sichel says the bacteria activates the immune system, which in turn fights various ailments.
Sichel says annual sales of Del-Immune V are about $1 million.
Sichel’s suit claims trademark infringement and seeks to stop Allergy Research’s sales of its product, called “Russian Choice Immune.”
According to the complaint, the companies entered into negotiations for a distribution agreement in early 2004. The talks later broke off, but not before Pure Research provided samples of the culture and key information about its production to Allergy Research, the complaint says.
It also alleges that Allergy Research has used an endorsement of Del-Immune V from a prominent physician for its own product without the doctor’s consent.
Sichel said he has repeatedly tested Russian Choice Immune and found that it contains little or no lactobacillus rhamnosus.
“They’re selling something they’re claiming is theirs that is not theirs to claim,” said Sichel’s Longmont attorney, Richard Marsh.
Sichel, who is in his 70s, learned of the Soviet immune booster in the late 1990s and spent about $100,000 to launch his company.
Allergy Research is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $12.48 million.
Staff writer Greg Griffin can be reached at 303-820-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com.
