Pfizer Sells SF5.3 Mln of Viagra in 6 Months in Switzerland
Bloomberg News
February 17, 1999, 9:40 a.m. ET
Pfizer Sells SF5.3 Mln of Viagra in 6 Months in Switzerland
Zurich, Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the fourth-
largest U.S. drugmaker, said it sold 5.3 million Swiss francs
($3.7 million) of its anti-impotence drug Viagra in the first
six months of sales in Switzerland, making it one of the
country's fastest-selling drugs.
Pfizer AG, Pfizer's Swiss subsidiary, sold 530,000 Viagra
tablets -- or one for every 6.4 men -- in Switzerland in the six
months through December, the company said. The ''consistently
high demand'' for Viagra proves that many Swiss men suffer from
sexual problems and that treatment with Viagra satisfies a
medicinal need, said Martin Weilenmann, director of
pharmaceuticals for Pfizer AG.
Viagra became the fastest-growing prescription drug in the
world after it was introduced last year in the U.S., Europe and
elsewhere on a wave of publicity not seen for any drug since Eli
Lilly & Co.'s blockbuster depression drug Prozac. Still, Pfizer
is not sure if Viagra is the best-selling drug in Switzerland.
''It could be that Viagra is the best-selling or it could
be (Roche Holding AG's anti-obesity drug) Xenical,'' said
Philipp Kampf, a spokesman for Pfizer AG.
Pfizer said an added benefit of the introduction of Viagra
in Switzerland is that more men have been willing to seek help
for erectile disorders.
Thirty-one percent of men report they have sexual problems
although they rarely receive medical treatment for their
condition, according to a study that appeared this month in the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
--Cary O'Reilly in the Zurich newsroom (411) 224-4111/ph
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