Herbal Viagra – Traditional Chinese Medicine health warning

One main reason that people are attracted to herbal medicines is that they are “natural therefore safe”. This, of course, is a dangerous assumption and is completely wrong. There are two main reasons why ‘natural’ does not necessarily mean safe:

1. Naturally occurring drugs.
   
   If a herbal remedy does work (and almost all of them don’t) then it will be because the herb contains naturally occurring drugs. It doesn’t actually matter whether a drug is manufactured in a test tube or inside a plant, if it has a physiological effect on the body then it may well work; however, this also means it may also have unintended effects – dangerous side effects.
   
   
2. Medical drugs added during manufacture (adulteration).
   
   As most herbal remedies do not work, unscrupulous manufacturers will sometimes add medicinal drugs to their products so that they do get results. The danger here being that the person taking such ‘herbal’ remedies will not be aware of what’s in them and will be prone to possibly dangerous side effects without realising it.

A Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbal remedy for erectile dysfunction, ‘Jia Yi Jian’ (herbal viagra), manufactured by Hunan Aimin Pharmaceuticals Ltd in China and sold as an unlicensed product in the UK in TCM stores, has been tested by the MHRA and found to contain dangerous levels of prescription-only drugs.

This product, Jia Yi Jian – sold as containing ‘only herbal ingredients’, was found to contain the prescription drugs Sibutramine (normally used to treat obesity) and Tadalafil (used to treat erectile dysfunction).

Tadalafil was found to be present at more than double the normal prescribed dose and Sibutramine was found to be present at four times the normal prescribed dose. Both of these drugs, even at normally prescribed doses, can have serious side effects including heart and blood pressure problems, persistent and painful erections, and Sibutramine can cause mental health issues. Both drugs can also interfere with other prescribed medications.

A warning

For some reason, this information has been issued as ‘a warning’. Presumably this means that these dangerous products are still on sale. Why the MHRA, or another government agency, doesn’t or cannot act and remove these from sale is not clear, but despite the clear danger from these products consumers are left in a ‘buyer beware’ situation.

What to do

If you or someone you know is taking these ‘herbal viagra’ pills the advice is to stop using them immediately and see your GP. Erectile dysfunction can be a sign of other problems, such as heart problems, and a GP will be able to test for such causes. These dangerous pills contain drugs that can affect the heart so taking them when your underlying problem is a heart problem could be lethal!

The MHRA press release

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON043905