Wake up, Sydney! Wonderdrug Viagra has come to town
Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 15/09/98
By DAMIEN MURPHY
It may by a social phenomenon since it was released in America last March, where 4 million men have swallowed some 30 million doses, most of them with smiles on their faces.
But Sydney's reaction to Day One of Viagra was slightly different. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the healthy lifestyle, but in chemists' shops across the city the new wonderdrug was greeted with thunderous disinterest. The impotence cure considered to be the 20th century's best product launch went on sale legally yesterday - at $70 for a four-pill packet.
It is aimed at men aged between 40 and 70, and a women's version is being developed.
American men have spent more than $700 million on Viagra. Pfizer, which invested $500 million developing the drug, expects the Australian market to top a million, with about 100,000 Australian men popping the prescription pill over the next 12 months.
Pfizer is poised for profit. The company will receive $48.28 from every packet, distributors take about $4, chemists another $18. Pfizer hopes Viagra will be placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Users cannot claim a rebate on the drug until it is on the scheme.
Holograms on Viagra packets are aimed at preventing rip-offs. "We will be closely guarding our trade marks and market," said Pfizer's Australian senior product manager, Mr James Price.
One man who was definitely smiling yesterday was Perth retiree Mr Arthur Greaves, the Australian face of Viagra. One of the drug's Australian guinea pigs, he has appeared with his wife, Jacqui, a bookkeeper, on 60 Minutes and in Woman's Day, describing the pill as the best thing that ever happened to them - and to mankind.
"I'm certain this is like Neil Armstrong walking on the moon for men and for our society," he said.
"Its not aphrodisiac. The desire's there but not the performance. You've got to want it. It doesn't make you want to want it."
A 55-year-old former Telstra communications worker, at 42 he had erection problems, lost his job and became a guinea pig on two Keogh Institute of Medical Research penile injection trials in Western Australia before being invited to join the Viagra testing program nearly three years ago.
Pfizer said nearly 3 per cent of men taking part in trials reported side effects such as headaches, flushing, nasal congestion, dyspepsia and problems differentiating between the colours blue and green.
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