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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ)
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To: Zebra 365 who wrote (19999)3/23/1999 8:59:00 AM
From: Zebra 365  Read Replies (3) of 23519
 
Viagra Goes on Sale in Japan

.c The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) -- The impotency drug Viagra went on sale legally in Japan today, two months after government health officials approved the drug in record time.

Patients will have to pay full price for the drug, since it is not covered by Japan's health insurance system. A 25-milligram tablet goes for around $9.30, and a 50 milligram pill costs $11.

The Health and Welfare Ministry approved Viagra in January, just six months after New York-based maker Pfizer Inc. applied. Drug approval in Japan often takes years.

Japan could be a gold mine for Pfizer. The estimate on Japanese men who suffer from impotence ranges from as low as 8,000 -- according to the Health Ministry -- to as high as 7 million, according to the drug maker.

Controversy has surrounded the drug in Japan since black marketers started selling it for $50 a tablet last year. Japanese men have even gone on ''Viagra tours'' to Hawaii to buy the drug and bring it home.

The quick approval irked critics of the government's reluctance to approve contraceptive pills for women amid worries about side-effects. The government is now moving toward reversing that position.

Two top politicians are reportedly suing a magazine over a report that they played a role in the quick approval because they wanted to use the drug themselves.

Japan was the 54th country to approve Viagra, which had global sales last year of $788 million.

AP-NY-03-23-99 0528EST
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