VIAGRA'S DEBUT [in Canada]
Initial sales vigorous
The Globe & Mail
Monday, May 17, 1999
Source: IMS Health
After all the hype preceding Viagra's launch in
Canada, the sales results for its first week of
availability shouldn't be a surprise. During week
of March 25-31, there were 20,600 Viagra
prescriptions filled, according to statistics from
IMS Health. Sales topped $1.5-million. For the
whole of 1998, before Viagra, the sales tally for
all other impotence therapies was $9.20 million.
Each pill cost $12 or $13, with 5.7 the average
number of pills per prescription. These numbers
put Viagra in the lead for drugs to treat
impotence (or erectile dysfunction, as it's known
in the trade).
There are some distinct regional sales trends.
Ontario was Viagra's best market, capturing 41
per cent of the total. That lines up approximately
with Ontario's 38 per cent share of the country's
population. British Columbia, home to about 13
per cent of the population, was the drug's
second-best market, with 17 per cent of sales.
And Quebec, which claims about one-quarter of
Canada's population, bought only 14 per cent of
the total prescriptions dispensed.
VIAGRA PRESCRIPTIONS MARCH 25-31, 1999
Total prescriptions
Ontario 8,400
British Columbia 3,600
Quebec 2,900
Alberta 2,300
Manitoba 1,000
Saskatchewan 900
Nova Scotia 700
PEI and Newfoundland 500
New Brunswick 300
CANADA 20,600
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