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 (2416)	5/12/1998 11:28:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Associated Press: Mexico Anticipates Rush for Viagra MAY 12, 02:36 EDT By EDUARDO MONTES Associated Press Writer CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) -- Mexican pharmacist Jose Luis Gomez receives about 20 inquiries a day for a medication that can cure impotence -- and he doesn't even have the pill in stock. Requests for Viagra -- which hit pharmacy shelves in the United States last month -- are besieging pharmacies in Mexico, where American tourists often go for medications because they can be cheaper or easier to buy. Mexican stores won't even begin stocking the pills for a few weeks, but that hasn't stopped customer demand. ''I've never seen anything like this,'' said Gomez, who operates a pharmacy at Farmacia Benavides, a few yards from the bridge linking Ciudad Juarez and the west Texas border city of El Paso. The story is pretty much the same throughout Avenida Juarez, a tourist-friendly border enclave that offers inexpensive booze, bars, souvenirs and at least a half-dozen drug stores. The pharmacies cater primarily to Americans searching for bargains on medication. Customers can fill many prescriptions for as little as half of what they would pay in U.S. stores, sometimes even less. Tourists also can find a large variety of drugs sold over-the-counter, including an array of antibiotics. Some pharmacies are even willing to sell prescription drugs -- without a prescription. The stores do not lack for American business, and with Viagra, Mexican pharmacies stand to do even better. ''There is a tremendous rush and excitement,'' said Policarto Villalba, director of the Juarez pharmacy union. ''This is the first time I've seen so many men (coming in),'' said Sergio Lopez, owner of Farmacia San Francisco. The enthusiasm, however, is not universal. Fabiola Saldana, the manager of Farmacia Nacional, across the street from Farmacia Benavides, said she's doesn't plan to sell Viagra because it has to be imported, so it probably won't be cheaper than in the United States. She also said she did not receive a single request for the drug this week. ''It's a media thing, I imagine,'' she said. Health officials on both sides of the border are expressing fear that the drug's growing reputation and availability will lead to misuse. Francisco Higuera of the Mexican Health Department recently warned that Viagra could cause adverse effects in healthy individuals who take it to increase sexual performance. ''This drug will not work for every kind of impotence and, more importantly, it is not an aphrodisiac,'' Higuera said. Anyone caught smuggling Viagra into Mexico for sale on the black market will be prosecuted. Pharmacies caught selling the drug without a prescription could be fined up to $30,000 and have their businesses shut down. There are already reports Viagra is being sold illegally along the border for as much as $43 per pill. Pfizer, Viagra's maker, said the wholesale price of the pill is $7. Given the easy availability of some drugs on the border, U.S. officials are worried that people will start taking it without consulting a physician. ''Any medication has its good effects and its side effects and this is a drug we don't have any experience with yet,'' said Dr. Jorge Magana, director of the El Paso City-County Health District.