The FDA condemns the sale of e-cigs containing Viagra
The American Food & Drug Administration (FDA) publicly and harshly reprimanded the HelloCig Electronic Technology e-cig manufacturer recently. This China-based company has been marketing therapeutic e-liquids with no medical or governmental authorisation.
For a number of months now, vaping devices and e-liquids have been the target of the FDA’s regulatory efforts. Recently, American manufacturer Juul Lab Inc was called upon officially to make more efforts to limit access to younger consumers. Today, the FDA’s crusade has turned to another company, HelloCig.
Hellocig has just launched a marketing campaign to promote two new e-liquids sold online. They are named “E-Cialis” and “E-Rimonabant”. An advertising spot featured on Facebook and Twitter clearly promotes the stimulating potential of “E-Cialis” for sexual performance issues such as erectile dysfunction, while “E-Rimonabant” is presented as a product to help fight obesity in younger populations.
Ineffective and potentially dangerous products
Cialis and Rimonabant are two medical products authorised by the FDA for sale across the USA market. The safety and efficacy of these products has been tested, vetted, and approved via reliable clinical protocols, but only for oral intake. Inhalation of these two substances has never been tested and could turn out to be useless at best, dangerous at worst for consumers.
The FDA performed an analysis of the chemical composition of HelloCig’s new products. E-liquids sold by this brand do indeed contain the active ingredients packaged in Viagra (sildenafil and tadalafil). However, these e-liquids also contain molecules that are banned in medical products as they are known to cause unwanted psychological issues.
FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb made a statement that currently, the FDA has issued no authorisations for the usage of e-cigarettes as medical delivery devices. However, Hellocig not only introduced these medically active molecules in their e-juices, despite the ban, but also made false statements concerning FDA approval to sell their products on the American market.
