Sherley Amendment

Sherley Amendment (1911)

Legislation passed in the US in 1912 in response to the US Supreme Court’s decision in US v Johnson [221 U.S. 488 (1911)], which ruled that the misbranding provisions of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act only prohibited false statements as to the identity of a drug, but did not pertain to false curative or therapeutic statements. The Amendment addressed the lack of enforcement of fraud related to therapeutic claims intended to defraud the purchaser, a standard which was difficult to prove.