$3 Blue Pill

Have you heard radio commercials for Viagra-like products sold online? This radio ad for the blue pill claims to offer its customers cheaper medications and supplements compared to the leading brands. In the ad, the company sells a medication that it promises will have the “same results” as Viagra, topped with an enticing less-than a $3 dollar-per-pill price, compared to the $18 price of a prescription Viagra pill.

We checked into it and after calling the advertised phone number, a customer service representative said the company selling the pills is medshopformen.com and claimed it is a Canadian discount pharmacy. The “blue pills,” advertised, said the representative, are a generic brand of Viagra that contain all of the same ingredients, but without the high cost of the real medication or the need for a prescription. But the website for the product, medshopformen.com, claimed to be “under maintenance” so we couldn’t find any more details about the company or its pills. Also, a media monitoring site lists the advertising account in the name of International Drug Mart, which is located in Cyprus.

Here are some other red flags as well:

• The only mention of a name of the product in the ad is a “blue pill”
• The terms for the advertised 30-day money-back guarantee are never fully explained.

And here’s another reason to be cautious. An analysis of online pharmacies by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), which accredits online pharmacies, found that 97 percent of the more 10,000 online sites selling prescription medications were operating illegally or not following pharmacy laws and standards. In addition, 77 percent of Viagra purchased online from 22 sites were found to be counterfeit, according to a study reported at the World Meeting for Sexual Medicine in 2012. It also found that the pills contained undeclared ingredients, such as gypsum, which is found in drywall.

When you hear radio ads offering cheap Viagra be cautious and check into the company. NABP offers a database of accredited online pharmacies here. The FDA also offers information on purchasing medications online.

For more of TINA.org’s coverage of sexual enhancement ads, click here.