Procter & Gamble’s Febreze Product May Contain Active Drug Compound That Can Enter Human Cell

Something does not smell right over at Procter & Gamble. For more than a year, I have been trying to reach the proper people at the company  (ie. Sr. Execs) in order to get them to pay attention to the fact that one of their key products has a potential drug in it that millions of people are inhaling.

The potential drug is called hydroxy propyl beta cyclodextrin (HPBCD) and this compound is used in many of Procter & Gamble household products, including their Febreze air freshener.  You can read about how P&G uses HPBCD in Febreze on their website.  HPBCD is the active ingredient which helps Febreze do its odor reduction magic!

What the top people at P&G may or may not know is that it has recently been discovered that cyclodextrins have an affinity for cholesterol, especially forms of HPBCD.  For decades, HPBCD was thought to be an inactive and non toxic ingredient but in fact HPBCD may act as very powerful drug in the human body.  When cyclodextrin enters into the body, researchers believe it has the ability to penetrate into the lysosome of a human cell and interact with cholesterol and potentially other things as well.

I am currently trying to save my twins’ lives with HPBCD as they are afflicted with one of the worst cholesterol diseases on the planet — it’s called Niemann Pick Type C and the condition is often referred to as “childhood Alzheimer’s.”  I have been working on trying to figure out how make an HPBCD aerosol that the twins can breath in — essentially a Febreze without all the scents.  While we currently have FDA approval to give Addi and Cassi intravenous and intrathecal treatments of HPBCD, the compound does not appear to penetrate the lung through these routes of administration.  So I need to look into making an aerosol to reach the lung.

I contacted Procter & Gamble when I learned about HPBCD being in their product line.  I was hoping they could help me with some data on HPBCD, but more importantly, I wanted to alert them of the fact that HPBCD is a potential active drug and I believed further studies on HPBCD needed to be carried out.

What really stinks is that Procter and Gamble ignores me regarding this issue with HPBCD being a potentially active drug  — it’s truly an unbelievable situation.  The product manager I was routed to last year who is apparently responsible for the Febreze product line does not respond to me nor do their top PR people who I have contacted numerous times.  Maybe the lawyers are involved at this point?  I don’t know ….. but something about them ignoring me stinks to high heaven.  The whole nightmare with them completley blowing me off for months has sent me completley over the edge.

Two weeks ago, I forwarded them patent information on HPBCD as a new therapy to threat asthma and COPD — essentially researchers are looking to create an HPBCD that can be inhaled through the nose and mouth to treat these lung conditions  — just what I am looking for!   No response.

I do not think HPBCD is harmful.  It’s a non toxic sugar compound and it has a great safety profile.  Obviously, we are putting the compound into my twins’ brains to try and save their lives and it could be used to treat lung diseases.  But given that HPBCD is a potential active drug, is seems like a fair request to ask Procter & Gamble to take what I am saying seriously given millions of people are inhaling Febreze (even if it is in very small amounts or it’s a small exposure).

If Febreze is going through your nose, it’s potentially getting into your bloodstream and could even cross the blood-brain barrier through the nasal passage.  People have a right to know that they could be breathing in a drug that could interact with their cholesterol, even if it is completely safe.  Surely more studies need to be conducted now that we have new information that cyclodextrin is a potential active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).

I contacted the FDA about this issue since HPBCD is a potential drug but I was told by FDA that this is an issue for the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC).  I am planning on contacting Inez Tenenbaum who is the Chairman of the Commission because it’s not right that a company like P&G can simply ignore something like this.  Certainly a company should report whether they have been notified that their product’s main ingredient is a potential drug that could get into a person’s cells.

What is the public’s right to know in a situation like this?  I don’t know the answer but I am going to sniff it out.