Wednesday, April 22, 1998 Section: METRO
IMPOTENCE PILL WINS RAVE LOCAL REVIEWS
DOCTOR HERE HAS PRESCRIBED NEW DRUG FOR OVER 300 MENBy Tim O'Neil
Of The Post-Dispatch
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Without getting into the details, Tom Crisp of De Soto says he knows the
popular new drug treatment for impotence performs as advertised.
"This pill works," Crisp, 55, said Tuesday. "Men who have this problem
need to put their pride in their back pocket, get off the macho bull and
see their doctor."
The drug Crisp described is Viagra, a prescription tablet that has
become the hot new treatment since Pfizer Inc. released it barely two
weeks ago. Crisp's doctor is Dr. Abraham Hawatmeh, who runs the South
County Urological Center at 10004 Kennerly Road and who is enthusiastic
about Viagra's potential for helping impotent men.
Hawatmeh said he has written about 300 prescriptions for the drug,
including one for Crisp, who said he was glad to be interviewed so that
"more men will read about this." Crisp said he is retired from American
Can Co. and suffers from a blood-flow disorder that apparently has been
the cause of almost 17 years of impotence.
Viagra has inspired thousands of men to seek treatment. Its biggest
attraction is that it is the only pill-type treatment for impotence,
which affects about 30 million American men, according to federal health
estimates.
Since Pfizer released the drug, it has captured about 80 percent of the
market for impotence treatment, according to a trade organization. It
costs about $9 a tablet in the St. Louis area and is taken a short time
before a patient intends to have sex.
Dr. John Morley, a professor of gerontology at the St. Louis University
School of Medicine, said Viagra appears to have worked well for about
half of the 60 men for whom he has prescribed it. Morley treats patients
at his Sexual Function Clinic near the university hospital.
The variable, Morley said, is a patient's overall health - the more a
man suffers from illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, the less
likely it will work.
"If nothing is wrong with you, or you're in the very early stage of
disease or upset in your head about sex, it's a great drug," he said.
"We need to be assessing people's health, rather than say that this drug
will cure everything."
It appears to work well with men whose impotence has psychological
roots, Morley said, although he believes those patients would be better
off receiving treatment for those problems. He said impotence is a
common ailment among men older than 50, and often the source is a
medical condition.
Morley said one potential side effect is temporary color blindness that
can last for 24 hours. "Patients need to watch their traffic lights," he
said.
Hawatmeh is more unabashedly enthusiastic. He said he has written 50
prescriptions since publication of articles on the subject in the Wall
Street Journal on Monday and the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday.
"I agree that this won't work for everybody," Hawatmeh said. "But I will
say that for the majority of patients who have some degree of vascular
insufficiency and need a jump start, this is a marvelous drug."
Because the treatment is in pill form, he said, news of its availability
has inspired impotent men who haven't sought treatment before to
inquire. Even if Viagra doesn't help, Hawatmeh said, the patients may be
helped by other methods.
Difficulty with those other methods is a big part of Viagra's appeal.
Penile implants require surgery, and injecting drugs into the penis or
inserting a drug pellet into the urethra can be painful, say doctors.
Morley said patients need to take one pill one to four hours before they
plan to have sex. The pill itself does not cause an erection, but allows
normal sexual arousal to take place, he said.
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