Pfizer's Viagra Shouldn't Be Covered by Insurance, Half Say
Bloomberg News
May 12, 1998, 7:28 a.m. PT
New Orleans, May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc.'s new
impotence drug Viagra is a ''good thing,'' said 50 percent of
1,005 people responding to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll, although
50 percent said that health insurers shouldn't pay for it, USA
Today reported. The American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists said that health insurers that provide coverage for
Viagra and not for female contraception are guilty of ''gender
bias,'' adding that it will back legislation requiring insurers
that offer prescription drug benefits to cover birth control.
Mary Sevon, a pharmacy benefits consultant, said that most
insurance companies and health maintenance organizations have
decided to cover Viagra or are ''leaning in that direction,'' USA
Today reported.
Pfizer's Viagra had almost 600,000 prescriptions filled in
April, its first month on the market, leading some analysts to
predict sales of the impotence pill could rise as high as $2
billion in 1999.
(USA 5/12 1A www.usa.com)
--Mary Guidry in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4028 sgp |
