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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: g.w. barnard who wrote (7291)	4/20/1998 8:56:00 AM
From: EyeDrMike	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

I was struck by the following excerpts in the article: They note that other drugs, notably Rogaine for baldness and Redux for weight loss, fizzled after early popularity. "I guarantee there will be a backlash against Pfizer in six months, when people find out this doesn't work on everyone and has side effects," says James Barada, a urologist at the Center for Male Sexual Health in Albany, N.Y. Other researchers warn that trouble could lie ahead if the drug is overprescribed. "My guess is that some unanticipated side effect will emerge" because of the heavy use, says Stanley Korenman, a urologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. "People without erectile dysfunction will use it to have sex five times in a night. They will take it too frequently and at too high a dose, and then get into big trouble." While many doctor's are optimistic about Viagra's promise, George W. Adams Jr., a urologist in Birmingham, Ala., says some of his patients need a reality check. "They think it's a miracle drug," he says. Some have already found out it isn't: "I had a patient call me at home last night during dinner to let me know it didn't work," he says. Some patients are bypassing doctors' offices entirely in favor of the Web site www.penispill.com. Operated by the Vascular Center for Men, a Milwaukee medical center specializing in treating male sexual problems, promises results to those who call for a $50 phone consultation and a prescription for Viagra. "Call us up, talk to a doctor and give him your complete medical history and credit-card number, and we will fax a [Viagra] prescription to your nearest drugstore," says Dr. Michael Thomas, the center's medical director. He says he has already written 400 Viagra prescriptions, half of them for customers who saw the Web site, and the rest for patients at the center.