А почему "ложный", поясните, пожалуйста

Patent medicines first appeared in England in the 1600s. When a medication was patented, its formula was owned by the patent holder. No one else could duplicate and sell the medication. To qualify for a patent, a medicine only had to be original. It did not have to be either effective or safe. Because the ingredients of patented remedies had to be listed, many sellers of these types of products never applied for patents. Instead, they registered distinctive trade names in order to market their wares. The ingredients were unspecified but their brand name was unique. In time, all of these medicines being promoted for public sale became known as "patent medicines," whether they were in fact patented or not. Most were promoted as astonishingly effective cures for an equally astonishing range of maladies. For example, an 1800s advertisement for "Dr. Jayne's Alternative" claimed that it cured at least 25 different ailments. These conditions ranged from cancer to skin problems.