The usual saucy suspect
Another month and another case of sildenafil slipped into supplements.
This time the Czech authorities detected 32.7 mg per kg parts per million of the pharmaceutical in a product from China.
Sildenafil – its most famous tradename being Viagra – has been approved as a treatment for erectile dysfunction by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) since the 1990s. Yet as a medicine it cannot be used in food supplements.
Caution is advised for those with cardiovascular diseases – and the concern is that as an illicit supplement ingredient it is added without being labelled.
Last year the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) tested 13 ‘sexual potency’ food supplements on sale in sex shops in Sweden. Of these 13 products, nine contained undeclared pharmaceuticals including sildenafil.
The products in this latest case were held by customs.