Viagra to be made available to all on the Health Service
The Independent
June 18, 1998
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
VIAGRA, THE new drug treatment for male
impotence, will be made available on the NHS
once it is granted a UK licence, ministers have
confirmed.
However, it was unclear yesterday whether
restrictions will be imposed to limit prescriptions
of the drug. In the US, 1.7 million prescriptions
were written for Viagra in the two months
following its launch last March. The drug costs
œ120 for a box of 30 pills.
Senior managers warn that if a free-for-all is
allowed, with GPs given carte blanche to
prescribe what some describe as a recreational
drug, the NHS will be bankrupted. About 2.9
million men are estimated to suffer from
impotence, one in ten of the adult male
population. Impotence rises sharply with age to
39 per cent in men over 40 and 67 per cent in
men over 70.
Tessa Jowell, Minister of State for Health, said if
the drug was licensed, which is expected in
September, it would be made available "to meet
identified clinical need". One option open to the
Government would be to restrict its prescription
to hospital specialists to ensure that patients are
properly examined and advised about the risk of
side effects. Viagra has been linked with two
dozen deaths and must not be used by patients
taking nitrite drugs for heart conditions. Other
expensive drugs such as beta-interferon for
multiple sclerosis are restricted to consultant-only
prescribing.
Professor John Henry, editor of the British
Medical Association's Guide to Medicines and
Drugs, said: "GPs are often pressured by patients
for drugs and they may give in and prescribe. To
close that loophole it may be necessary to restrict
Viagra to specialists who have the expertise to
judge each case."
Ann Craig, director of the Impotence
Association, said: "What the Government is
worried about is that if people who don't need it
get hold of it, it will cost the NHS a lot."
n Viagra has made a contribution to Ireland's
continuing economic boom, financial analysts said
today. Record sales of the drug in the United
States have ensured that Ireland's exports are
continuing to soar.
A key ingredient of Viagra is produced by Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals, the drug's manufacturers, at their
Irish base in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.
Figures from Ireland's Central Statistics Office
show that exports in the first three months of this
year were 29 per cent higher than the same
period in 1997, putting the country on course for
a potential 12.5 per cent economic growth.
And the returns highlighted a 61 per cent rise in
the export of organic chemicals - under which the
Viagra ingredient is classified - in the early part of
1998, compared with the same months of the
previous year. |
