The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus is siding with Schering-Plough and recommending that Novartis Consumer Health modify advertising claims for Lamisil AT Gel Advanced athlete’s foot treatment.

Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, which also makes athlete’s foot treatments, had challenged Novartis’ advertising for the product. In response, the NAD conducted a review of various forms of Lamisil AT Gel (terbinafine) advertising. Claims at issue included: “All the cure,” “Its revolutionary cooling gel penetrates faster” and “Half the treatments.”

While Novartis didn’t agree with NAD that “All the cure” sounds as though Lamisil AT Gel is approved to treat athlete’s foot on the entire foot rather than just between the toes, the company said it has begun including “between the toes” on advertising.

NAD recommended that Novartis also modify the “penetrates faster” claim related to comparative absorption and clearly identify Lamisil AT cream as the comparison product. Additionally, NAD recommended that the claim be modified to avoid conveying the message that consumers will experience faster relief with faster absorption.

In its response to the review, Novartis disagreed with NAD’s finding that “Its revolutionary cooling gel penetrates faster” conveys an unsupported speed of symptomatic relief claim but agreed to modify the claim.