• by Les Luchter , Staff Writer, February 1, 2024

Observing that many men without erectile disfunction were nonetheless obtaining and using Viagra (or its generic version, sildenafil), Shane Webster and Max Oshman co-founded Joymode, launching the brand’s all-natural sexual performance booster supplement in January 2022.

“They just wanted to perform better in the bedroom,” Webster tells Pharma & Marketing Insider about those off-label Viagra users.

Joymode’s product combines L-citrulline and arginine nitrate to boost nitric oxide production, which in turn enhances blood flow, reportedly resulting in better erections. Ginseng and vitamin C are also included to help in the process.

Webster cites scientific studies going back decades, "published in peer-reviewed cardiology journals, erectile function and urology journals," for all those ingredients. L-citrulline and arginine nitrate especially “tend to be effective at improving erectile function and erection quality.”

In fact, he says that studies of individual ingredients are more impressive than clinical trials of finished products, since the latter invites “a little bit of conflict of interest in that the group sponsoring the study is the company that obviously wants to get results for their formula.”

Links to multiple outside studies are on the company's website.

Joymode is going after Viagra/sildenafil, as well as other supplements that claim to produce Viagra-like results.

“The thing that’s nasty about Viagra is, it’s a prescription drug and comes with all sorts of side effects,” Webster explains.

One of those, he notes, is developing a “psychological crutch…Young, healthy guys may start taking Viagra because it seems like a fun idea and then after a few weeks can no longer get an erection” without it. “So the drug that purportedly exists to solve ED, when taken by a healthy man, may actually cause this psychological form of ED.”

In an age of telemedicine, Webster points out, it may just be too easy for people to obtain a Viagra prescription because they “aren’t ever meeting with the doctor or even a phone call, let alone an in-office visit.”

As for competing supplements, Webster singles out both “sketchy gas station boner pills” and products sold via late-night infomercials.

The latter include brands like Nugenix and ExtenZe. “If you watch ESPN,” he says, ‘’you’ll see Nugenix’ late-night informercials with [former pro athletes) Frank Thomas and Doug Flutie.”

The “gas station” pills?

“You might see them at your liquor store or your 7-Eleven store sitting behind the counter, called by the likes of Rhino 69,” Webster says. “They all have these tacky names and are kind of unmarked, undeclared mystery pills. You don’t know what’s in those products, you don’t know if they’re safe, you don’t know who made them or where they came from, you don’t know if…you’re going to have a heart attack or not.”

(Indeed, the FDA last May reported that Rhino 69 actually contained sildenafil!)

But the convenience store situation is about to change.

Within the next couple of months, Webster reveals, Joymode will start to be sold in “single-serving” packets, priced from $5.99 to $6.99. “You’ll see the product available in liquor stores, bodegas, grab-and-go stores, gas stations,” he says.

Unlike competitors, Joymode comes in powdered form, to be mixed with water. Webster says that’s because the product contains seven grams of active ingredients, “way over the minimum threshold,” so it would acquire the equivalent of 10 capsules if in that form.

Indeed, the product model seems to be nutrient-rich Athletic Greens. Joymode, Webster says, “is a health and wellness product. We think of it as being Athletic Greens, but for your penis.”

The product is now sold in a 10-dose package online for $50 per package, or $40 on a subscription basis. It’s also available at its first brick-and-mortar location: Contact Sports in New York City’s Soho, whose tagline is “Curating the best gear for the oldest sport.”  “They discovered the product and reached out to us,” Webster says.

The sexual performance booster was only available via Joymode’s own website until this past August, when Amazon was added. Now, 30% to 35% of sales come from the latter, Webster notes.

In addition to Amazon advertising, which Webster says has “been really great for us,” Joymode runs ads on Google, TikTYok and Meta, runs sponsored content on “relevant digital publications” like the Uncrate men’s shopping site, and sponsors podcasts like “Ben Greenfield Life” and “Mind Pump.”

Webster says that Joymode “is designed for all men, whether you’re someone who’s in his ‘60s with a really band cardiovascular condition which is inevitably going to lead to poor erectile health, or you’re a guy in his mid-20s who’s really really healthy but just wants to support his erectile health and perform better” – but that most of the brand’s customers to date have been over 40.

That’s also the age that the sponsored podcasts tend to serve, he says, adding that they’re the ones who have been “most engaged with our customer acquisition efforts.”

In addition, he says, “we really focus on the hard-core exercise and weight-lifting community” and “a lot of our earliest power users and enthusiasts have been folks that are quite wellness inclined.”