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

To: Perry who wrote (1368)	4/22/1998 2:59:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

APRIL. 22, 02:56 EST Fake Anti-Impotence Pills Surfacing By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The new anti-impotence pill is so popular that copycats are popping up: Pfizer Inc. is fighting companies selling unapproved look-alikes on the Internet and over the phone. The real pill, approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an effective, painless way to restore a man's sexual performance, is called Viagra. Tuesday, Pfizer won a temporary restraining order against a company selling a pill called Vaegra -- and no sooner did the judge's ruling arrive than Pfizer got word about an Internet site selling another copycat, Viagro. Pfizer says it doesn't know just what these pills contain, but it will defend its patented drug, which just went on the market and already is so popular that it is expected to earn $300 million this year. ''We plan to vigorously defend our Viagra trademark, and the public in the process,'' said Pfizer spokeswoman Mariann Caprino. The FDA is concerned as well. ''We're looking into these products and these claims,'' said FDA spokesman Lawrence Bachorik. ''If illegal drug claims are being made, we will take the appropriate action.'' The FDA says Viagra, known chemically as sildenafil, is the only oral medication ever proven to treat impotence. Federal law forbids dietary supplements to advertise as drug treatments for diseases. In a brief statement Tuesday, the maker of Vaegra -- the phone-order version -- said his company ''never intended'' to violate Pfizer's trademark. ''We are a very small company that tried to sell a very good product,'' said David Brady of American Urological Clinic. ''We wish Pfizer all the best luck with their new product.'' Viagro's 800-number went unanswered Tuesday afternoon; a recording said the company's voice-mail was full. Men who want the real Viagra need a doctor's prescription. But Pfizer received in the mail documents urging men to call the American Urological Clinic toll-free to order Vaegra. The documents never mention the FDA, or say exactly what Vaegra is. But a press release provided to U.S. District Court in Atlanta says, ''The American Urological Clinic has just received notification of approval to become the United States SOLE licensed distributor of Vaegra,'' and claims clinical studies found it successful in 70 percent of impotent men. The press release includes quotes from a Newsweek article praising the real Viagra. Vaegra ''will mislead the public and result in the denial of effective medical treatment to many of those suffering from this serious and even devastating medical condition,'' Pfizer argued in court. The court issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday; a hearing on Pfizer's trademark infringement lawsuit against Vaegra has not yet been set. Now Pfizer is investigating Viagro, the Internet-sold herbal supplement that uses the real ''Viagra'' in its Internet address. Indeed, a public advocacy group that was searching the Internet for Viagra information stumbled onto the Viagro site on Tuesday because of the name mixup. ''People aren't sophisticated enough to know it's Viagro and not Viagra,'' said Jeff Stier, an attorney with the American Council on Science and Health in New York. For $99, Internet users can fill out an ''online prescription,'' getting a three-month supply of ''50-milligram pills.'' The order form never identifies Viagro as an herbal supplement, although users who skip the order form to read more about the product see it is ''a herbal analog of the new popular impotence pill.''