Pfizer Egypt Says It'll Continue to Push for Viagra Approval
Bloomberg News
June 2, 1998, 9:40 a.m. PT
Pfizer Egypt Says It'll Continue to Push for Viagra Approval
Cairo, June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Egypt, an affiliate of
U.S.-based Pfizer Inc., said it will continue to seek approval
to sell Viagra in Egypt after local newspapers cited Minister of
Health Ismail Sallam that three Egyptians were hospitalized
after taking the impotence treatment.
The company said in a half page advertisement in El Ahram,
Egypt's best-known daily, it felt compelled ''to correct
misleading and inaccurate statements'' in Egyptian newspapers on
Viagra. It said it's been told nothing about the alleged
hospitalizations.
In the U.S., Viagra became one of the best-selling drugs in
the country within weeks of its April introduction as the first
pill to treat impotence. In Egypt in the month to May 25, Pfizer
Egypt shares gained 116 percent to 35.4 Egyptian pounds because
of expected demand for the drug in Egypt once it was given
approval. They've since fallen 20.5 percent following the
hospitalization allegations.
''Pfizer Egypt does not usually comment about its products
while they are under review by the Ministry of Health,'' the
company said. ''However, the unprecedented media coverage on
Viagra, some of which quoted alleged statements from the
Ministry of Health, compels Pfizer Egypt to issue this brief
factual press statement.''
Newspapers cited a statement by Sallam on the state news
agency Mena May 23 that three Egyptians have been hospitalized
after taking Viagra. Since then, newspapers have carried stories
almost daily about the effects of Viagra and its sky-rocketing
prices on the black market.
The business paper El Alam El Yom said yesterday air
hostesses were making profits of $294 per packet for smuggling
in the drug and selling it to pharmacists. Today it cited Hamdi
Sayed, head of the Doctors' Syndicate, that approval of Viagra
would boost consumer spending on pharmaceuticals to 5 billion
Egyptian pounds ($1.46 billion) a year from its current4 3
billion pounds.
Pfizer Egypt, which has about 7.2 percent of the Egyptian
pharmaceuticals market according to research by ABN Amro, said
it ''strongly opposes'' illegal imports. In a bid to quell some
of the hysteria, it also said the drug ''does not increase
sexual desire but restores normal sexual function.''
Unconfirmed
The company said it ''immediately'' sought information from
the Ministry of Health about the three Egyptians reportedly
taken to hospital after taking Viagra and that the ministry
''has not been able to provide any information.''
No one was available for comment from the Ministry of
Health.
Sallam said May 17 Egypt won't allow imports of the drug
until tests have been carried out.
''The authorities should take their time,'' said Dr. Emad
Mohsen, medical director at Pfizer Egypt. He said he didn't know
when a decision was likely to be reached.
Meantime, a law aimed at Viagra is due to be passed soon,
increasing the fine for selling smuggled drugs to between 10,000
pounds and 50,000 pounds from the current 50 pounds and allowing
imprisonment for second-time offenders.
--Ben Faulks in Cairo (202) 354 2284/594 1802 through the London |
