See link at bottom of page for your Free e-book.
It all started in 1995:
Prior to 1995, it was not well known that the natural substance called "Cetyl Myristoleate", if injected into inflamed joints would reduce or eliminate the pain, inflammation
and stiffness of the afflicted joint.
Having successfully tested the beneficial affect Cetyl Myristoleate had on himself, fellow doctor associates and a number of the public, Dr Sands was desirous of developing
a natural oral version of Cetyl Myristoleate to help large numbers of the public suffering from joint and soft tissue issues. However the task to transform
Cetyl Myristoleate to an "effective" oral application was monumental in many respects.
First he had to find a source of Cetyl Myristoleate that could provide commercial amounts of this natural substance economically. This problem was resolved by discovering
that Cetyl Myristoleate could be harvested from American beef tallow via various heat extraction and pressure methods. With an ample source of natural Cetyl Myristoleate,
his next challenge was to change this oily and virtually non digestible substance into a form that the human digestive system could absorb, as opposed to orally taking
Cetyl Myristoleate only to have 90% to 95% of it excreted through the natural elimination process.
After experimenting with various methods of developing an analog version of Cetyl Myristoleate, he finally succeeded in finding a production method of changing the oily
Cetyl Myristoleate into a "crystalline power" form that would "fracture" within the digestive system into nano sized particles small enough to be readily absorbed in the
small intestine.
Dr Sands' complicated and costly discovery to make Cetyl Myristoleate orally digestible was the birth of cerasomal-cis-9-cetylmyristoleate. Since cerasomal-cis-9-cetylmyristoleate
was such a month full to pronounce, Dr Sands coined the name CMO for marketing purposes.
Ecstatic with his success, Dr Sands then did numerous clinical trials at his San Diego Clinic to prove to himself and the world that indeed CMO was a marvelous break
through in the treatment of joint and soft tissue discomfort and disability. Satisfied with his trial results, he launched the marketing of CMO in nationwide in late
1995 to help the multitudes of people suffering from sore backs, knees, hands feet, etc, etc.
As an exuberant medical entrepreneur, Dr Sands was about to enter into the real world of natural supplement marketing reality, cruel competition and Government regulation.
To promote CMO, Dr Sands wrote his first book, "Arthritis Defeated at Last" and then toured radio talk shows. The book was well accepted, the radio interviews and call
ins were great and sales of CMO took off. 90 capsule bottles of CMO were selling like hot cakes at $150 retail.
The next step to build volume was to add independent Distributors. Armed with quotes from Dr Sands’ book, tapes of successful radio interviews, glowing news articles,
testimonials and the development of the Internet as a selling medium, Distributors flooded the “Net” with web pages proclaiming the CMO was a miracle “cure” for arthritis.
The result was that sales of CMO soared and Dr Sands' entrepreneurial venture became profitably successful.
However, the success of CMO spawned other entrepreneurs to jump on the bandwagon with knock off “CMO” products at half the price and lower. Despite the fact that the
knock off CMO products proved to be ineffective for their purpose and potentially harmful, they gained market traction based upon the “cure” promise and a lower price.
Regardless, the market for all CMO products continued to grow.
Dr Sands was now faced with two major market factors. First in his haste to bring CMO to market, he did not procure a trademark for the name CMO. Secondly, pursuing law
suits against fake CMO makers and distributors proved to be illusive and expensive because the perpetrators could easily shut down, move on and reopen faster then
Dr Sands could catch them.
In the meantime, market forces had reduced the retail price of the original and authentic CMO from $150 per bottle to $125 to $95 thus lowering profitability and the
resultant ability to pursue the knock off competition. However, Dr Sands’ original CMO still commanded the majority of CMO sales, because it actually did relieve some,
if not all, of the symptoms associated with joint and soft tissue inflammation and pain.
Now a new reality hit Dr Sands. When you are leader in the natural foods supplementation industry, you attract the attention of the Federal Government, namely the
Federal Trade Commission, the enforcement arm of the FDA.
Unknown to many Americans, there is a Federal law on the books that any affliction that has been classified as a disease, such as Arthritis, can only be legally treated
by a patented, chemical based, Pharmaceutical that has been approved by the FDA. Furthermore, under administrative law, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged
with protecting the public from purveyors of any supplemental substances (non FDA approved as pharmaceuticals) that claim to be "cures" for any known diseases.
Ergo, as Dr Sands and some of his distributors were the leaders of the CMO parade and had made claims of curing arthritis, the FTC moved in to do what they do.
The result was that large fines were paid, agreements “as to claims” were made, Dr Sands’ San Diego Clinic was shut down and Dr Sands moved to Mexico to die there in
2003. Presently, the great majority of sales of the original CMO formula are now wholesaled, by Dr Sands son, to large health food distributors in Europe, the Mid East
and Asia.
In 1998, after having great results with Dr Sands CMO, I became a Distributor for the original product that has finally been trademarked and marketed as CMOtm.
I too used the internet as a sales channel and eventually build, in my opinion, an educational web site of some 40 some odd pages.
As a user of CMOtm, and having developed my own clientele, I soon realized that the product was good, but it was not a “cure” for anything. The product does bring
helpful and effective relief from bothersome symptoms for most otherwise healthy people with joint and soft tissue problems, but it does NOT "cure" arthritis, nor
does it work in time frames and quantities as Dr Sands writings would have people to believe.
Therefore my website never used the “cure” word, other than to say that neither CMOtm, nor any other supplement, or pharmaceutical drug, known to man has been
scientifically proven to "cure" arthritis. However, I did include a few of my own customer’s anecdotal testimonials of how pleased they were with the product.
When the FTC called Dr Sands to task in the early 2000’s, I tried to distance myself from Dr Sands, et al, by relabeling CMOtm to CMO II in hopes the FTC would leave me
alone. They did not.
In 2002 the FTC contacted me saying my website was deceptive and needed to by revised to avoid large fines and possible incarceration. Wanting to be a good citizen,
my website shrunk from some 40 pages of, again in my opinion, good educational information to about 10 pages of acceptable copy to the FTC.
The point here is that my relabeled CMO II product is, and always will be, the original CMOtm product made by Dr Sands’ son.
When Dr Sands was alive, I had the privilege to speak with numerous times via telephone. I found him charming, affable, dedicated and truly passionate about his mission
to find “cures” for various health conditions through the use of natural substances. To him, all his life’s work was devoted to finding natural, non adverse side effect,
“cures” for any and all of man’s afflictions. This was his calling and he was ultimately proud of his accomplishments and CMOtm in particular.
On at least three occasions, I suggested to Dr Sands that his use of the words "cure" as it related to CMOtm was a bit much and could he please tone down his writings.
My suggestions always fell on deaf ears.
The above account of Dr Sands and CMOtm is, from my experience and knowledge, a fair representation of the history and trials of the CMO story.
Disclaimer:
I do not advocate, nor endorse, the contents of Dr Sands’ free e-book to be found at the link below.
The book link is presented here only to validate how Dr Sands’ enthusiasm, propensity to promotional hype and exaggeration led him to the troubles that befell him and, in my opinion, ultimately besmirched an otherwise good, natural and longer lasting pain analgesic that supports good joint and soft tissue health.
However strongly I disagree with the over the top presentations and promotional wording in Dr Sands’ writings, his passion, research and product are wondrous advances in natural supplementation, and for this I am thankful.