E'ola Products Review and Profile

E'ola Products no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

E’OLA International is no longer active. Its nutritional-products MLM disappeared after major litigation and federal action involving its AMP II Pro weight-loss drops.

Original Npros business profile for E'ola Products, preserved below for archival purposes:

E'OLA International was a Utah multilevel marketing company operated by Bio-Genics, Inc. from St. George, Utah. The company was active during the 1990s and early 2000s and sold weight-management, nutritional and personal-care products through independent distributors. A 2000 federal court decision described E'OLA as a multilevel marketing organization in which distributors sold products directly to customers and recruited additional participants into downline organizations.

E'OLA's best-known product was AMP II Pro Drops, a liquid weight-loss formula containing ephedrine hydrochloride. Other products included AMP-1 and AMP-2 drops, Thin and Thin II weight-management products, ThermoAmp and additional nutritional and personal-care items. Distributors earned retail income from product sales and could receive additional compensation from qualifying purchases and sales generated within their recruited organizations.

The company faced a major personal-injury verdict in February 2001 after an Alaska jury found that AMP II Pro Drops caused consumer Rosalie Talbert to suffer a debilitating stroke. The jury awarded $1.3 million in compensatory damages and $12 million in punitive damages, for a total judgment of $13.3 million. The jury found that E'OLA had misrepresented the drops as an all-natural product even though they contained synthetic ephedrine.

In October 2001, the FDA and U.S. Marshals seized 141,000 bottles of AMP II Pro Drops, raw ephedrine hydrochloride, promotional brochures and videotapes from Bio-Genics and its contract manufacturer. The seized finished products had an estimated wholesale value of $2.8 million. The FDA determined that the drops were unapproved new drugs marketed for obesity and could not legally qualify as dietary supplements because synthetic ephedrine hydrochloride was not a dietary ingredient.

A federal consent decree entered on April 12, 2002 required the destruction of the seized products and prohibited Bio-Genics and E'OLA from manufacturing or distributing AMP II Pro Drops, similar products containing synthetic ephedrine, or other unapproved drugs. The government destroyed the 141,000 seized vials and associated promotional materials in May 2002. E'OLA introduced the ephedrine-free ThermoAmp as a replacement, but the company did not recover as a lasting MLM operation and later ceased business.