Can a drug be popular even if we don't know if it works or not? That is the question revolving around the latest medication to become popular with Lycos users, Enzyte.

Enzyte is an "herbal supplement" from a company called Lifekey Healthcare that claims to improve sexual performance better than Viagra. Like Viagra, it claims to strengthen a man's erection. Unlike Viagra, it also claims to increase the length of a man's, um, length.

Didn't Austin Powers have some of this stuff when he came out of deep freeze?

Since the introduction of Viagra, bargain hunters have searched for alternatives. Each week, we get searches for Herbal Viagra and cheap Viagra from folks who don't want to pay Pfizer the full price. But the searches for Enzyte are far stronger than any other Viagra alternatives.

Enzyte has been around for a while, but in the last few weeks, the company has started a serious marketing campaign. In Boston, at least, it is impossible to turn on an all-sports radio station without hearing a commercial for the stuff.

Therefore, in the last month, Enzyte queries have exhibited a remarkably consistent growth curve. Enzyte now gets four times as many searches as it did in mid-March.

Enzyte is now close to passing Viagra on our search logs, and last week it got 95 percent as many searches as the better-known (and FDA-approved) drug. Last week, Enzyte got more searches then Howard Stern or Eminem.

Since Enzyte is technically an "herbal supplement," it is legal and doesn't require a prescription. But information on the validity of its claims is scarce.

There's no listing on Lycos Health (powered by WebMD) for either Enzyte or its chemical name, suffragium asotus. And a search of the Food and Drug Administration website yields no results. But this article frowns upon an earlier Lifekey supplement, Biogen 14, which apparently boasted the same effects.

Or course, the Lycos 50 isn't here to tell you what drugs work, we're here to tell you what drugs are popular. And right now, Enzyte is very, very popular. Caveat emptor.

TOMORROW: The new Lycos 50: which musical death will get more searches, Layne Staley, or Lisa Lopes?