Source of the little blue diamond opens its doors to the media
Karen Birchard
10/03/98
The Lancet
Page 1127
Ringaskiddy, a tiny village in County Cork, is a major ferryport providing access to mainland Europe and Wales. Cruise liners stop here so that passengers can shop in nearby Cork City or visit Blarney to kiss its famous stone. Until last spring, Ringaskiddy was simply a place to pass through.
But now visitors gawk and talk about one of its major industriesthe Pfizer factory, dubbed Fortress Viagra. Here, the key ingredient for every blue Viagra tablet is made. Sildenafil citrate, the powdered base for the "Pfizer Riser", is shipped in blue barrels from Ringaskiddy to Pfizer plants in France, the USA, and Puerto Rico where it is made into tablets. The demand is so great for the little blue diamonds that 1400 kg of sildenafil citrate are shipped every week. Each 25 kg drum contains enough chemical to cause 5000 erections.
The company, which was forbidden to say anything publicly about Viagra in Europe until the drug gained European approval, told visiting journalists last week that the checks and balances in dispensing should stop Viagra becoming a black market recreational drug. However, the visitors' main preoccupation seemed to be that the production manager at Fortress Pfizer is a woman, and that the locals know all the Viagra jokes.
But Viagra is no joke to the Irish economy. Record sales have contributed to a huge rise in the export of organic chemicals from Ireland. And Pfizer expects to invest US$300 million over the next 4 years on more production capacity, with 100 extra workers predicted to join the 320-strong Ringaskiddy workforce. However, the success of the blue diamond has also cost 250 jobs. Vivus announced the cancellation last week of its plans to build a factory in Ireland to handle its impotence drug MUSE because patients would rather take a tablet than inject alprostadil into the urethra |
