Xlear is a personal care brand founded in American Fork, Utah, in 2000.
Nearly everyone at a health newsletter's publishing company bought Xlear before the issue about it had even mailed. Dr. David Williams had written eight pages for 250,000 readers about a convention talk by Nathan Jones, founder of American Fork's Xlear. With 10 days to go, Jones drew on his retirement fund and borrowed from his brother. He ordered 100,000 more bottles and installed extra phones in a storage unit.
The formula came from his father, Dr. Lon Jones, who was reading dental research when, in Nathan's words, he found "this tiny little footnote" reporting 40 percent fewer ear infections among xylitol gum chewers. He put xylitol in a nasal spray and tried it on his granddaughter. Nathan, a former commercial diver, founded Xlear in 2000 and ran it from an office with a futon, the inventory shoved underneath.
In 2021 the Justice Department and the FTC sued Xlear and Jones, alleging it advertised that its spray could prevent or treat COVID-19 without reliable scientific evidence. The case was dismissed with prejudice in March 2025, and that June Xlear sued the FTC.
The company that kept its stock under a futon now ships 15 to 18 semitrucks in an average week.
In 2016 the Daily Herald reported that Xlear was the second largest buyer of raw xylitol in the United States, most of which comes from corncobs harvested in China.
