New York

GNC Holdings Inc, the chain of health and wellness stores, plummeted as much as 21 per cent after Oregon sued the company, claiming it sold supplements made with illegal ingredients.

Ellen Rosenblum, the state's attorney general, said on Thursday the company's nutritional and dietary supplements were laced with unapproved drugs. One is picamilon, a Russian prescription medicine for neurological conditions, and the other is BMPEA, which was first synthesised in the 1930s as a replacement for amphetamines and never studied in humans, according to the state's complaint.