Viagra Booms in San Marino, Italy, Despite Warnings
3.47 p.m. ET (1947 GMT) May 23, 1998
SAN MARINO - Desire overcame fear on Saturday in the tiny republic of San Marino as men clamored for the Viagra potency pill despite the deaths of six people after taking what has been hailed as an impotence wonder drug.
Although the drug has not yet been approved for sale in most of Europe, it is available in San Marino and Italians have been streaming to buy the drug in its pharmacies.
Asked whether demand had fallen since the reports on Friday, a chemist in San Marino's 24-hour hospital pharmacy said: "On the contrary, demand has increased.
"No one has worried about the possible risks. Today we've sold more Viagra than any other days," Italian news agency ANSA quoted a chemist as saying.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it is not clear whether any of the six deaths was related to use of the drug, which was launched in April.
Pfizer , the makers of Viagra, pointed out that more than a million people have been prescribed the drug.
An epidemiologist who specializes in population death rates said nothing could be concluded from the numbers.
"With six deaths in six weeks, that is totally meaningless," said Dr. Javier Nieto of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in the United States.
Men from all over Italy have poured into San Marino, near the Italian Adriatic resport of Rimini, for the little blue pills that promise to give their flagging love lives a boost.
One man was reported to have flown from Sicily to Rimini, taken a bus to San Marino, made his purchase and then gone straight home.
comments@foxnews.com
c 1998, News America Digital Publishing, Inc. d/b/a Fox News
|
