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The makers of Cold-FX have sat for years on a study that suggested Canada’s most popular cold and flu remedy was no more effective than a placebo in treating symptoms of the viruses.

The 2004 trial was conducted by Dr. Gerry Predy, a top Alberta public-health official, at a time when the supplement’s makers told consumers the product would bring fast relief from the effects of such ailments.

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Predy continued to do other research on Cold-FX — based on people taking it over months as a preventive measure – and spoke of its prophylactic benefits well after 2004.

But it appears neither he nor the manufacturers have ever publicly divulged results of the short-term treatment trial.

The study has just surfaced in a class-action lawsuit against Valeant Pharmaceuticals, the Quebec drug giant that now owns the product after buying Edmonton’s Afexa Life Sciences in 2011.

“If true, this kind of information should have been disclosed,” argues John Green, the Vancouver lawyer spearheading the class action. “If it had been disclosed, it would probably have been the end of Afexa Life Sciences.”