Cialis Is Cleared for Daily Use
Turn off the shot clock - Doc
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 9, 2008; Page D4
Drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to offer its erectile-dysfunction drug, Cialis, in a new daily dose.
The daily version will take pressure off users who would otherwise have a window of effectiveness to worry about, Lilly officials say. Cialis also is offered at a higher dose that provides a 36-hour window.
With the daily dose, men won't need to take Cialis in anticipation of sex, because it will already be in their system, said Shawn Heffern, Lilly's U.S. marketing director for the drug.
"They've got a lot of pressure to perform, and the worst thing we can do is then put a shot clock on them or some limited amount of time...where they need to have sex or otherwise it's out of their system," he said. Lilly said the daily dose is geared to men who anticipate having sex twice a week or more.
Cialis had $798 million in sales in the first nine months of last year. In 2006, it registered $971 million for the full year, a 30% increase over 2005. Mr. Heffern said the drug is on track to top $1 billion in sales for 2007. He declined to say how the daily dose will affect revenue.
Cialis trails market leader Viagra in sales. Pfizer Inc.'s erectile-dysfunction drug collected $1.26 billion in sales during the first nine months of 2007.
The daily dose could increase Cialis sales, depending on how it is priced, said George Farra, co-founder and principal of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management. "It becomes more of a monthly fixed cost," Mr. Farra said. "For those who favor spontaneity, this is about as good as it gets." Lilly says the wholesale price of the new dose will be comparable to taking two pills of the original formulation a week.
Others were skeptical. "Most people are not going to want to take this every day," says Catherine Arnold of Credit Suisse. Analysts suggested that Lilly's motive is more likely a strategic one to differentiate Cialis from Viagra. That drug's patent expires in 2012, five years before Lilly's medicine will face generic competition. When a cheaper generic version of Viagra is available, Lilly will need to differentiate Cialis or risk losing market share.
Viagra can also be taken daily, as can the erectile-dysfunction drug Levitra, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Schering-Plough Corp. and Bayer AG. But Cialis is the only drug approved for a daily-treatment regimen.
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