DJ news - New improved version of Viagra!
Pfizer/Viagra : Aimed At Heading Off Competitors
June 15, 1998 2:53 PM
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said
Monday it's developing a new, improved version of
blockbuster oral impotence drug, Viagra - a move it
hopes will keep it one step ahead of potential
competitors.
Research now underway at the company's Sandwich,
U.K. laboratories is aimed at creating "Viagra with a
plus," according to Gill Samuels, director of science
policy for Pfizer Ltd., the U.K. unit of Pfizer Inc.
"Obviously we are aiming to stay on top," Samuels told
Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. "There is some
very promising stuff going on."
Apart from working on a female version of Viagra,
Samuels said, Pfizer also wants to reduce the drug's side
effects and make it faster acting. Viagra has been known
to cause headaches and can be dangerous if used by
people on heart medication. It also takes about an hour
for the drug to take effect.
Since being launched in April, Viagra has become one of
the biggest selling drugs in the world and captured more
than 90% of the U.S. market for impotence. But its
success has attracted the attention of competitors,
several of which are said to be developing their own
versions of the drug.
The biggest immediate threat to Viagra's dominance,
according to some, is Icos Corp.'s IC351, a product in
Phase II trials that is said to have similar efficacy to
Viagra but lack many of its side effects.
Pfizer Opens New U.K. Facility
Samuels said any improvements made to Viagra will still
require full clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy,
which could take some time.
"Viagra has only just come out," she said. "It's a very
very steep learning curve for us."
Samuels was among a group of staff and dignitaries
attending the official opening of an extension to Pfizer's
research and drug manufacturing operations in
Sandwich.
The new building was opened by U.S. ambassador
Philip Lader and Ken Moran, chairman and managing
director of Pfizer Ltd.
In an interview, Lader noted Pfizer's total investment in
the U.K. of around $1 billion is matched only by Ford
Motor Co. in terms of size.
"What the U.K. can offer is a well-educated, motivated
workforce, a regime that is very friendly to American
business practices and a highly sophisticated financial
community," he said.
Meanwhile, Moran said Pfizer is hoping to finalize by
July plans to further expand its U.K. research operations
at a cost of GBP241 million over the next three years.
Pfizer has said it will spend around $2 billion this year on
research. |
