Nu Skin Receives Cease and Desist Letter from Stanford University

Washington -- Nu Skin Enterprises received a "cease and desist" letter from Stanford University demanding that the company stop using a university researcher's name in its advertising material and remove references to him from its website by August 17.

The researcher, a geneticist named Stuart Kim, is referred to as a "Nu Skin Partner", although he has no relationship with the company.

In 2009, Nu Skin donated $1.5 million to fund a study on human skin aging by Kim and other scientists. Kim later left the study; however, two dermatologists continue to work on it.

Citron Research issued a report saying that Nu Skin misrepresented its relationship with Kim and had never funded any of his research, and also accusing Nu Skin of exaggerating the scientific claims about the effectiveness of its anti-aging products. In the wake of this report, Nu Skin's shares ended down 4 percent on Thursday.