‘Totally Organic’ Anti-impotence Product Has Drug Ingredients
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Defective Medications on Monday, April 23, 2012
Shoppers in St. Louis have likely seen them: the advertisements on the Internet and late-night TV promising to help men who suffer from erectile dysfunction. Often, these ads say their products are “organic” or “all-natural,” assuring viewers that they have no negative side effects that may be associated with prescription drugs that treat ED.
Unfortunately for consumers, these claims are often misleading, if not outright lies. Several so-called “all-natural” supplements actually contain the same or similar drugs prescribed by doctors.
The difference is, when a man buys an ED supplement directly from the manufacturer, he is not informed about the product’s ingredients and how they may interact with medications he is already taking. Given that ED is a common problem for men with chronic illnesses such as heart disease and high blood pressure, the odds that a supplement user is taking medications is fairly high.
The latest supplement maker to recall its product is X-Rock Industries, the maker of X-Rock, a supplement the company claimed on its website to be “totally organic” with “absolutely no chemicals or steroids.” But recent testing by the Food and Drug Administration found that X-Rock actually contains sildenafil, a drug for treatment of ED. Sildenafil has been approved for use in the U.S., but it can interact with nitrates to cause users’ blood pressure to drop dangerously low. Nitrates are commonly prescribed to treat heart disease, high blood pressure and other conditions that can cause ED.
X-Rock was sold at stores in several states, but Missouri consumers could purchase the supplement from the company’s website.
Source: CNN, “Maker recalls ‘X-Rock’ male supplement,” April 21, 2012