Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1227)	4/19/1998 1:21:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Impotence pill to be tested on women Much-heralded new drug may enhance their sexual pleasure, researcher says By Neil Rosenberg of the Journal Sentinel staff April 19, 1998 Kohler -- A leading sex therapist said Saturday she would begin testing the new male impotence pill Viagra on women to determine whether it increases sexual pleasure. Domeena C. Renshaw, director of the Loyola University Sexual Dysfunction Clinic, said the decision came after she received at least 100 telephone calls last Monday at her Chicago clinic from women seeking the pill. "We had to get volunteer helpers to man the phones," she said. In the United States, the drug is approved only for men, though it has been tried on women in Europe. American women will be carefully screened before they are approved for the drug, and they will be monitored during its use, she told members of the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association attending their spring meeting here Friday and Saturday. Renshaw emphasized that the drug was not an aphrodisiac, that it did not by itself provoke sexual arousal and pleasure. "It is not an orgasm pill," she said. Women using the drug still must engage in foreplay and fantasy, she said. She said many women who called her office had been unrealistic, "from outer space" in their expectation that the pill alone could arouse them. And Viagra, made by Pfizer Inc., is not cheap. In Chicago, six 50-milligram tablets sell for $78, or $13 apiece. The retail price could go as high as $20 a tablet, according to Renshaw's data. Though the Food and Drug Administration announced its approval of the drug as an impotence treatment in late March, the pills did not arrive in Milwaukee and Chicago until last week. In Milwaukee, discount pharmacies have quoted a price of $8 to $12 for a 50-milligram pill, the typical starting dose. Viagra is the first pill for male impotence. It must be taken an hour before sex to achieve effective levels in the bloodstream, Renshaw said. Even then, the user must be sexually stimulated through foreplay or fantasy. Renshaw, author of "Seven Weeks to a Better Sex Life," said she was being cautious in prescribing Viagra to men. Since the drug hit pharmacies last week, she had written just three prescriptions. But she said a colleague had written 300. She is not surprised by men's reaction to the new drug. "Men will do anything," she said. "I am surprised how vulnerable they are. There are times when I have to stand between a man and his penis and say 'Don't do that!' " She also cautioned that individuals taking drugs that contain nitrate, typically heart patients, should not take Viagra because it could produce dangerously low blood pressure. Side effects for any user include headache, dizziness, drop in blood pressure, flushing and seeing flashes of color. In men, high doses have been associated with temporarily producing a type of color blindness. jsonline.com