If you’re thinking of buying or affiliating to Web sites whose offerings include sexual enhancement products, you might first want to ponder a group of British scientists saying up to half the Viagra in cyberspace could be counterfeit.
Saying they analyzed samples of the drug sold online, the scientists told the British Pharmaceutical Conference that some of the pills included different components or less of the key active ingredient – sildenafil – than the actual pill made and marketed by Pfizer.
"On our initial estimate, around half of those Viagra samples could be counterfeit," one of the scientists. Dr. Nic Wilson, told the conference.
“What we are talking about,” said colleague Tony Moffatt, “is somebody selling something as Viagra which is clearly not made by Pfizer.”
The two men said they used a near-infrared microscopy technique that showed more detailed pictures of what went into the Net-sold tablets, including the active ingredients known to be in the real thing, to determine the fakes. The scientists also added that while they can’t yet determine whether the wrong components that help make up the fake pills are harmful, but they did say that there’s a high probability the fakes won’t do what you think they’ll do for you. And they warned about prospective side effects, if the counterfeiters get the dosages wrong and the fakes
"Part of the side reaction of the sildenafil is increased heart pressure, so people could get heart attacks," Moffat said. "If you go to a site that looks a bit wonky, they are selling it cheap and you've got no address or idea where they are based, you are chancing it."
Moffatt and Wilson said the fakes came from various countries including India, Malta, and Thailand. But they also said their near-infrared microscopy technique could track the fake Viagras across the world eventually.
