FDA Warns Sexual Enhancement Products Sold at Gas Stations Contain Hidden Viagra
Federal regulators continue to find prescription drug ingredients in over-the-counter sexual enhancement products sold at gas stations and convenience stores, raising concerns about dangerous drug interactions and unregulated supplement oversight.
Sexual enhancement products with names like Rhino, Anaconda and Magnum are widely available at gas stations, convenience stores and online retailers across the United States. But laboratory testing has repeatedly found that what is inside the package often differs significantly from what appears on the label.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers in May 2023 not to use a product called Rhino 7S Type F3 7000 after testing revealed it contained sildenafil, the active ingredient in the prescription erectile dysfunction medication Viagra, and acetaminophen, the pain reliever sold as Tylenol. Neither ingredient was listed on the product's label.
The finding was not an isolated case. Since 2007, the FDA has maintained an expanding list of health fraud scams, including sexual enhancement and energy products found to contain hidden pharmaceutical ingredients. Seven new products were added to that list in September 2026, and recent warnings have involved pills, gummies, honey products, coffee and even chocolates marketed as sexual enhancers.
The persistence of these products reflects a broader challenge created by global supply chains, online commerce and a regulatory system that struggles to keep pace with rapidly changing products, according to public health researchers who study substance use and unregulated products.
In the United States, the FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different framework than prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs undergo a rigorous application process involving three phases of clinical trials that usually take nearly a decade to complete. Supplements, by contrast, are regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which holds manufacturers responsible for ensuring that their products are safe and properly labeled.
This means dietary supplements generally do not go through the FDA's premarket approval process. The agency does not approve them for safety and effectiveness before they reach consumers, as it does with medications. That creates an important distinction between pharmaceutical drugs like Viagra and products marketed as dietary supplements.
Viagra is an FDA-approved prescription drug whose active ingredient, sildenafil, has been evaluated in clinical trials for safety, effectiveness, dosing and manufacturing quality for an approved medical use. After a dietary supplement goes to market, the FDA periodically inspects manufacturing facilities and collects and tests some products, but it does not routinely test every supplement on store shelves. Instead, the agency prioritizes products associated with illnesses or injuries and those suspected of containing fraudulent, adulterated or otherwise illegal ingredients.
Sildenafil and tadalafil, the active ingredients in Viagra and Cialis, belong to a class of medications called phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors. They are effective treatments for erectile dysfunction when appropriately prescribed. But consuming these drugs unknowingly is very different from taking them under medical supervision.
These medications are known to interact with nitrate medications, including nitroglycerin used by some people with heart disease. The combination can produce a dangerous drop in blood pressure. The Rhino 7S case presented an additional risk: undeclared acetaminophen. It was not clear why acetaminophen was present in the supplement or how it got there. Someone taking the supplement while also using Tylenol, cold medicine or other acetaminophen-containing products could unknowingly exceed recommended amounts. Acetaminophen overdose can cause severe liver injury and, in extreme cases, acute liver failure or death.
Research suggests that adulteration is not limited to a handful of recognizable drug ingredients. A 2023 scientific review identified 112 unapproved phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors and related compounds that had been detected as adulterants in sexual enhancement products between 2003 and mid-2023. Adulterated supplements can contain approved drugs, unapproved analogues and other modified compounds.
The problem is not solely American. Studies have identified undeclared erectile dysfunction drugs in supplements sold in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. In one study of 158 sexual enhancement supplements available in the United Arab Emirates, researchers found undeclared sildenafil, tadalafil or vardenafil in more than 12 percent of all products tested.
The World Health Organization has warned that increasingly complex international supply chains and the growth of e-commerce make controlling substandard and falsified health products particularly difficult. The makers of these products might source ingredients from one country, manufacture or package them in another and sell them online to a consumer thousands of miles away.
From December 2024 to May 2025, the international law enforcement body Interpol conducted Operation Pangea XVII, in which authorities in 90 countries seized more than 50 million illicit medicines and medical devices. The operation highlighted the scale of the global trade in unregulated pharmaceutical products.
For consumers, the FDA maintains a public list of tainted sexual enhancement products and advises against using any product marketed with exaggerated claims or unfamiliar brand names sold outside of regulated pharmacies. The agency encourages anyone who experiences adverse effects from such products to report them through its MedWatch program.
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