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For many years now, television viewers have been exposed to an unrelenting stream of ads promoting the dietary supplement apoaequorin (PREVAGEN) to improve memory. Wisconsin-based Quincy Bioscience, the manufacturer of Prevagen, claims in its marketing materials that apoaequorin — a protein originally found in a species of jellyfish — has been “clinically shown to…improve memory and support brain function.”[1]
Many recent Prevagen TV ads feature paid testimonials by older adults touting...
For many years now, television viewers have been exposed to an unrelenting stream of ads promoting the dietary supplement apoaequorin (PREVAGEN) to improve memory. Wisconsin-based Quincy Bioscience, the manufacturer of Prevagen, claims in its marketing materials that apoaequorin — a protein originally found in a species of jellyfish — has been “clinically shown to…improve memory and support brain function.”[1]
Many recent Prevagen TV ads feature paid testimonials by older adults touting the purported memory and cognitive benefits of the supplement. But such anecdotal experiences fall far short of providing meaningful scientific evidence that Prevagen improves memory.
In fact, Quincy Bioscience conducted a single randomized study to support the claims that Prevagen is clinically proven to improve memory, but the study demonstrated that the supplement was no better than a placebo. The study, known as the Madison Memory Study, enrolled 218 subjects, ages 40 to 91, who received either apoaequorin or placebo capsules daily for 90 days and underwent nine computerized tests designed to assess memory, learning and other cognitive skills over the 90-day study period.[2]
An analysis using data from all subjects enrolled in the Madison Memory Study failed to show statistically significant improvements in the subjects taking Prevagen compared with placebo-group subjects on any of the nine computerized cognitive tests.[3] But after failing to find a clinical benefit for the overall study, the researchers subsequently conducted more than 30 other so-called “post hoc” analyses of various subgroups of subjects for each of the nine tests, making it likely that they would find some statistically significant differences by chance alone.[4] Not surprisingly, they found such differences on a few cognitive measures for two subgroups of people who had no or very mild memory impairment, but the vast majority of the post hoc analyses showed no significant differences.[5] Such subgroup data mining represents bad science and fails to provide reliable evidence of a treatment benefit for Prevagen.
Moreover, the company’s claims about Prevagen’s memory benefits rely on the theory that apoaequorin enters the brain from the blood.[6] But Quincy Bioscience has no evidence showing that this protein actually enters the human brain after oral consumption. In fact, evidence from the company’s own safety studies demonstrated that the apoaequorin is rapidly digested into smaller fragments and amino acids when exposed to chemical conditions mimicking stomach fluid.[7] These findings make it highly implausible that orally consumed apoaequorin has any biological effects on the human brain.
An ongoing lawsuit filed in federal court in 2017 by the Federal Trade Commission and New York State charged Quincy Bioscience with deceptive advertising promoting the memory benefits of Prevagen.[8] So when you see ads for Prevagen, mute your TV and don’t be duped into buying this worthless supplement.
References
[1] Prevagen Improves Memory. The Science behind Prevagen. https://www.prevagen.com/research/. Accessed September 1, 2021.
[2] Quincy Biosciences. Clinical trial synopsis QB-0011: Madison Memory Study: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of apoaequorin in community-dwelling adults, older-adults. August 1, 2016. https://www.prevagen.com/research/. Accessed September 1, 2021.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Case No. 1:17-cv-00124. Filed January 9, 2017. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/quincy_bioscience_complaint-filed_version.pdf. Accessed September 1, 2021.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Moran DL, Tettech AO, Goodman RE, Underwood MY. Safety assessment of the calcium-binding protein, apoaequorin, expressed by Escherichia coli. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2014;69(2):243-9.
[8] Federal Trade Commission. FTC, New York State charge the marketers of Prevagen with making deceptive memory, cognitive improvement claims. January 9, 2017. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/01/ftc-new-york-state-charge-marketers-prevagen-making-deceptive. Accessed September 1, 2021.
