Pfizer to Meet With Japan After Death of Viagra User (Repeat)
Bloomberg News
July 15, 1998, 12:33 p.m. ET
(Repeats to note Pfizer comment added in 3rd paragraph.)
Tokyo, July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the second
largest U.S. drugmaker, said it will meet with Japanese health
officials to discuss ways to educate the public there about the
impotence pill, Viagra, after the death of a Japanese Viagra user
was reported.
The Japanese Ministry of Heath and Welfare said a man in his
60s died earlier this month after taking Viagra. The man also was
taking a heart medicine, nitroglycerin, that Pfizer has warned
against combining with Viagra.
Viagra hasn't yet been approved in Japan, said Andrew
McCormick, a Pfizer spokesman. Pfizer is in the last stage of
testing needed to apply for regulatory approval of Viagra in
Japan as well as in China, he said. In Japan, consumers are
allowed to import the drug for individual use, health officials
said. Other men purchase the drug on the Internet.
Pfizer fell 1 7/8 to 116 5/8 in midday trading. Early sales
of Viagra boosted Pfizer to a record 121 3/4 on April 21, letting
it briefly pass rival Merck & Co. as the most valuable U.S.
company.
The drug had $411 million in sales in its first three months
on the market, helping boost Pfizer's second-quarter profit 38
percent to $628 million.
The Japanese ministry said it hasn't determined if there's a
link between the man's death and the drug. The man, who had
diabetes, took one tablet of Viagra, which he obtained from a
friend. He had sexual intercourse and died three and a half hours
after taking the drug, the ministry said.
Pfizer, based in New York, has laboratories in Connecticut
and England. It also makes the antidepressant Zoloft and Bain de
Soleil sunscreens.
--Kerry Dooley in the Princeton newsrom and Junko Fujita in the
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