FDA Goes In Hard On Viagra Vape Company
FDA issues a pounding attack on China’s HelloCig manufacturing company for thrusting Viagra into vapes
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by Dave Cross
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Those worried about a lack of action from Gottlieb, with a delay in issuing a press release, will be happy to know that he got it up on Friday – thrusting a letter at them saying the juice, “would mislead consumers into believing, that the product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.”
The HelloCig Electronic Technology Co. Ltd is a small firm previously specialising in producing cloned vape devices and eliquids. They sold knock-off Maraxus mech mods, iffy 5 Pawns Kayfuns and a juice purporting to be Castle Long.
The website carries a range of “Healthcare” liquids, with descriptions such as “Oral Freshener” and “Vitamina”. Despite the FDA saying the Shenzhen-based firm produces liquids containing Viagra and Cialis, researchers will have a stiff time trying to find any evidence online as HelloCig has tried its best to hide it.
Gottlieb was keen to get a grip on this as soon as it came up.
The press release states: “Laboratory analysis conducted by the FDA confirmed ‘E-Cialis HelloCig E-Liquid’ contains the undeclared drugs sildenafil and tadalafil, and ‘E-Rimonabant HelloCig E-Liquid’ contains the undeclared drug sildenafil.”
Gottlieb, like a dog with a bone, said: “There are no e-liquid products approved to contain prescription drugs or any other medications that require a doctor’s supervision. Prescription drugs are carefully evaluated and labelled to reflect the risks of the medications and their potential interactions with other medicines, and vaping active drug ingredients is an ineffective route of delivery and can be dangerous. There are no e-liquids that contain prescription drugs that have been proven safe or effective through this route of administration.”
There may be no vape-prescription drugs at present, but it isn’t hard to see the benefit potential. In 2014, Alsa Refinish reported that it had begun to look at the possibility: “Vaping the drug would deliver it directly to the smallest areas of the lungs via harmless vapour. Our patents cover vaporizing a wide array of drugs and herbal therapies. The hypodermic needle is 400 years old. It's time it came into the non-invasive electronic world. I bet it will be in the museums of the future.”
Earlier this year, Vitacig was handing out its products to celebrities at one of the Oscar Ceremony after-parties. The device contained: “ginseng, green coffee extract, grapefruit, lemon, and orange essential oils, 20 servings of Vitamin B12 (which regulates the production of red blood cells), and roughly one recommended daily dose of Vitamins A, C, D, E, coenzyme Q10, and collagen”.
Will HelloCig feel deflated? Will the FDA feel engorged with success and go after similar companies like Vitacig? Or does operating outside the States mean that Gottlieb is going to have to suck it up?
Photo Credit:
Viagra Mouse: Toshiyuki Imai
Wordplay: Viz and your nearest playground
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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