BBC: Viagra 'could overwhelm the NHS'
Tuesday, July 7, 1998 Published at 15:54 GMT 16:54 UK
Viagra could cost the NHS œ1bn, warn doctors
Massive demand for the impotence
wonder drug Viagra could overwhelm
NHS services and cost at least œ1bn
a year, doctors have warned.
The drug, set for launch in the UK in September, could
benefit around 10% of the male population believed to
suffer from impotence, but doctors also fear it will be
abused by healthy men seeking to boost their sexual
performance.
Tests indicate the drug could also benefit women.
Public health minister Tessa Jowell has confirmed that
Viagra will be available on the NHS for those who
clinically need it.
But doctors at the annual British Medical Association
conference in Cardiff said new resources would have to
be made available to avert a crisis in the NHS.
Derek Machin, a urologist from Liverpool, estimated that
Viagra could double the number of patients who attended
his out-patient clinics at a stroke.
No test available
He warned that, as there was no readily available clinical
test for impotence, the potential for abuse was a serious
concern.
"Thus far we have had no reason to doubt the veracity of
patients complaining of impotence," he said.
"But we are now faced with an entirely new situation. For
the first time we are faced with an effective oral
preparation perceived as improving performance of the
already potent. It could be a major drug of abuse."
Mr Machin said costs of the drug, assuming patients
required two tablets costing up to œ8 each a week, could
top œ1bn - one quarter of the entire NHS drugs budget.
"I welcome the drug Viagra . It is a splendid new drug
that is going to change the quality of life for very large
numbers of people," he said.
"But the problem we are going to have if the government
decides to push prescribing of the drug into secondary
care is that this is going to completely overwhelm
urology services."
Dr Peter Holden, a GP from
Derbyshire, said that unless
new resources were made
available for Viagra the public
faced "sex by postcode" with
many areas unable to finance
the drug.
Dr Holden said approximately
250 men at his practice
alone could probably benefit
from the drug - pushing up
his drugs bill by œ125,000 a
year.
However, Belfast GP Dr Ian Banks warned that the
medical profession had a duty to be positive about
Viagra, whatever the cost of the drug.
Terrible blight
He said impotence was a terrible blight which led to
depression, alcoholism, marital breakdown and even
suicide, not only among sufferers, but also among their
families.
"To simply say this is an expensive drug and we have to
curtail its use is flying in the face of what all our training
as medical practitioners has been about," he said.
"We should be saying this is a serious medical condition
that affects a large number of people, and we should be
saying we welcome anything that could improve the lot
of these people and we will prescribe this medicine on
the basis of clinical need, not on the basis of resource
management."
The conference called on the government to launch an
urgent review of the way new expensive drugs are
licenced for use in the UK.
Easy to spot fakers
A spokesman for Viagra manufacturer Pfizer said:
"Anyone can speculate on the number of men who may
present themselves to clinics. There are guidelines in
development which take into account all of those things
to ensure that GPs are armed with the information they
need to make a proper diagnosis.
"Men who want the drug simply to pep up their sex life
can be easily spotted and, if they are foolhardy enough
to attempt this, GPs will be in a position to recognise
them for what they are and not to burden the taxpayer
with a prescription."
Viagra works by relaxing the tissue around the penis, so
that blood can flow more easily to the area. At least 24
men have died in the US after ignoring warnings that the
drug should not be taken in combination with medication
for certain heart conditions.
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