Pfizer Wins Court Battle Against French Doctor Over Viagra Name
Bloomberg News
January 14, 1999, 8:46 a.m. ET
Paris, Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A French court said it
rejected a suit filed by French doctor and well-known impotence
specialist Ronald Virag, who argued Pfizer Inc., the maker of
blockbuster impotence pill Viagra, shouldn't be allowed to use
the name Viagra because it was an anagram of his own aimed at
capitalizing on his fame, Agence-France Presse reported. Virag,
who helped develop the active molecule used in Viagra, also asked
for 200,000 French francs ($35,500) in damages, AFP said. Pfizer
told the court the pill's name was inspired by the words
''vigor'' and ''Niagara'' -- not the doctor's name -- according
to the report. French judges turned down the case because they
said it's unlikely people would confuse the names Viagra and
Virag, AFP said.
Viagra became a household name in the U.S. after it had the
most successful drug launch ever, with sales of $411 million in
the three months following its April introduction. It was
approved for sale in the European Union in September and in Japan
last month.
(AFP 1/14 or www.afp.com)
--Marthe Fourcade in the Paris newsroom (331) 5365 5065/cor
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