WASHINGTON – Some products touted on the Internet as natural alternatives to impotence drugs such as Viagra illegally contain the same active ingredients as the prescription medicines, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
The FDA warned consumers not to buy or use seven of the so-called dietary supplements, sold online to treat impotence and enhance sexual performance. The list includes a product called Zimaxx, which FDA testing showed contains sildenafil, the same active ingredient in Viagra. Viagra, made by Pfizer Inc., is sold only by prescription in the United States.
The FDA has sent the company, Herbal Remedies USA, a Casper, Wyo.-based firm that sells Zimaxx on its Web site and five others letters that warn they are marketing illegal drugs based on the claims made for the products or their ingredients.
The other products named by the FDA are: Libidus, Neophase, Nasutra, Vigor-25, Actra-Rx and 4Everon.
Chemical analyses showed the products contain either chemical ingredients that are similar to sildenafil or a second drug called vardenafil, the FDA said. Vardenafil is the active ingredient in Levitra, an impotence drug sold by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Schering-Plough Corp.
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