Monday, Apr 23, 2012    Text size: 

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has posted three more advisories warning consumers about  sexual enhancement products.

In the past month, the FDA has cracked down on seven pills containing hidden drug ingredients, primarily Viagra or Cialis.

The latest products earning the FDA's disapproval include Instant Hard Rod, available at InstantHardRod.com; RigiRx Plus, available at RigiRxPlus.com; and ZenMaxx, available at ZenMaxx.com.

The drugs may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels.  Men with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease often take nitrates.

The FDA told XBIZ on Monday that there has been an uptick in the number of tainted sexual enhancement products the agency has investigated recently.

"We are definitely seeing more of these tainted products and have been tracking them for the last several years," FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey told XBIZ. "The thing that concerns us most about these products is that they are marketed as all-natural and safe, when they actually contain drugs that can cause serious harm or even kill you."

DeLancey said that the FDA has found sexual enhancement products with such ingredients as viagra and cialis exponentially higher than approved doses

Some penis pills "appeal to men who may not be able to get a prescription for the approved product because they have existing health problems like heart disease."

"What they get when they buy these tainted products is up to seven times the dose in the approved product, putting them at far greater risk," she said. "In addition, many of the chemicals we find in these products are analogs of the pharmaceutical ingredient in the approved products. The analogs have never been tested, and because of that we don't know if they present additional risks."

Consumers are advised to stop using the product immediately and throw them away. 

Instant Hard Rod, RigiRx Plus and ZenMaxx each cost about $38-42 for a "one-month supply," and each includes a built-in recurring membership program.