A migraine medicine once-endorsed by Serena Williams has come under fire amid claims advertisements oversold it’s usefulness.
Last month, on Aug. 29, the Food and Drug Administration notified pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbieVie that a commercial starring the tennis phenom for its prescription medicine Ubrelvy was misleading.
The federal agency took issue with an advertisement that was circulated four years ago. Around that time, Williams revealed she had long suffered with chronic migraines throughout her career in sports.
She touted the drug as a source of “relief” as she juggled being a first-time mother to then-toddler daughter Olympia Alexis Ohanian, wife, businesswoman, and navigating the pandemic lockdown.
“I don’t know if I’ve had any migraine attacks since I’ve started taking Ubrelvy, to be honest,” she told People in April 2021. “And thank goodness, because they’re debilitating and it can be really awful to deal with,” she added.
The FDA argues that AbbieVie used Williams’ celebrity status to amplify misleading representations of the medicines ability to treat debilitating headaches.
The agency highlighted scenes from a commercial that depicted the 23-time Grand Slam champion as suffering from a migraine while in a talk show dressing room. A hallway with glaring lights turns into a blue path that she walks down with ease while holding up a 100 mg packet of the medication.
