State Queries TV Report About ‘Wrinkle Cream’ : Television: The manufacturer has not filed a scientific study or new drug application, investigator says. KNBC has no comment on inquiry into Dr. Bruce Hensel report.

An agency of the state health department has raised questions about the propriety of a news report that KNBC-TV Channel 4 broadcast July 10 about what the station called “a new wrinkle cream.”

Prosy Delacruz, supervising investigator for the food and drug branch of the California Department of Health Services, said that no scientific study or new drug application has been filed with the state for the product, called NAYAD. The agency is investigating the manufacturer’s claims about NAYAD’s safety and its ability to diminish facial wrinkles.

The report by KNBC medical reporter Dr. Bruce Hensel noted that the cream had not undergone any controlled scientific testing but said it “may produce results that even face lifts can’t achieve.” He also stated that the product “seems to be safer” than Retin-A and that “it also seems to produce a rosy glow.”

As part of the report, Hensel interviewed two people who had used the product and claimed to have benefited from it. One of them, identified on the air only as Jim Wood, is the president of ImmuDyne Inc., the company that developed and markets NAYAD.

Wood, who also supplied Hensel with the before-and-after photos used in the report to show Wood’s diminished wrinkles, told The Times in a telephone interview Friday that Hensel was informed that Wood was the company’s president when he went to KNBC’s Burbank studios to be interviewed.

“At this point in time, we have not received an official complaint; therefore we do not know how to comment on this issue,” a KNBC spokeswoman said Friday. She would not respond to any other questions about the matter.

Channel 4 News Director Nancy Valenta declined to comment. Hensel, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA and director of the emergency department at Century City Hospital, did not return a reporter’s phone calls. He joined KNBC in June, 1987.

Delacruz said that the question her department is trying to answer--prompted by an inquiry from a viewer--is whether Hensel and KNBC disseminated unproven information about NAYAD. She said that California law requires that when someone makes a claim about a drug, the claim must be proven by a scientific study. The manufacturer maintains that NAYAD is only a cosmetic, not a drug, and at present there are no restrictions on its sale.

In an interview, Delacruz detailed two potential areas of concern. First, she said, NAYAD is a yeast extract, which could be an excellent growth medium for microorganisms that could be harmful to some people. Second, she said that the product could cause allergic reactions in some people who have existing skin problems, such as acne.

In the report, Hensel stated that “you do not need a prescription” to purchase NAYAD. “The way it is with the FDA,” he reported, “if you don’t claim to change the structure of the skin, you don’t need pre-market approval for a drug. And (the manufacturer) just says it stimulates the skin so it can be sold as a cosmetic.”

ImmuDyne’s Wood said Friday that he was unaware of any state investigation. “We make no physiological claims, only appearance claims,” he said, “so therefore it is only a cosmetic.”

After Hensel’s report aired on KNBC’s 5 p.m. newscast, viewers who called the station asking about the product were hooked up to a recording that gave out an 800 number from which they could order.

If the state determines that there are problems with NAYAD, officials could question whether KNBC broke the law by promoting the product, according to one source, who suggested that when a news organization airs or publishes a news report that favorably presents a product and then connects callers to an 800 number selling the product, the report might then be construed as an inducement for sales rather than constitutionally protected free speech.

Delacruz would not comment further on the investigation. If a violation is found, she said, the case can be sent by the health department to the Los Angeles city attorney or the state attorney general for possible prosecution. Such a determination has not yet been made. The maximum penalty for these misdemeanor offenses is one year in prison and/or a $1,000 fine.

Louise Bianco, owner of a West Los Angeles beauty salon who has sold NAYAD in her shop for nearly two years, said that one of her customers told a KNBC producer about the product. Bianco, who appeared in Hensel’s piece and also provided one of her clients as an interview subject, said that she could not remember if she put Hensel in touch with ImmuDyne or if ImmuDyne’s Wood directed Hensel to her.

Wood said that his company does not have a formal public relations operation but that when news outlets hear about the product and contact him, he always suggests that the reporter interview Bianco.

In his report, Hensel said that the claims about NAYAD were the opinions of the manufacturer and those who use the product. His report included explanations and testimonials from Byron Donzis, the founder of ImmuDyne; a plastic surgeon who uses it on his patients; salon owner Bianco, and two people who have used and said they liked the cream--one of them Wood.

Dr. Daniel Rivlin, a dermatologist at the UCLA dermatology clinic, said that neither he nor other dermatologists he asked were aware of NAYAD except as an “untested cream that was on Channel 4.” He said that he would not recommend it to any of his patients until there had been extensive studies done on its safety and effectiveness.

“That’s what was done with Retin-A and all the other wrinkle stuff,” he said. “If they are making a claim about it helping wrinkles, they should do this kind of study. Otherwise it wouldn’t be ethical.”