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

To: Kevin G who wrote (2586)	5/18/1998 10:51:00 PM
From: Jim Lamb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Financial Times Mexicans in rush to be macho on prescription Copyright Financial Times Limited 1998 Page 2 By Henry Tricks in Mexico City In Mexico, where sexual impotence is considered grounds for divorce, a black market is developing for the little blue pill called Viagra. Pfizer's anti-impotence drug, which has become the fastest selling new drug in history just weeks after its launch in the US, has been approved in Mexico by the health ministry and is expected to go on sale on prescription in a month. But so strong is demand for the drug among Mexico's macho males, that the Mexican authorities have urged Pfizer not to talk about Viagra to the media, saying its pre-sale marketing efforts should be directed only at doctors and chemists. The government also had to call a press conference to warn Mexicans the drug could have side effects, and should not be used by healthy people to improve sexual performance. "This drug will not work for every kind of impotence and, more importantly, it is not an aphrodisiac," Francisco Higuera, a senior health ministry official, said. Pfizer has been similarly cautious in the US, saying "adverse events" in clinical trials included headaches, flushing and abnormal vision. Undeterred, Mexican men are already searching for advance batches of the drug among the sex-aid and stolen electronic goods stalls in Mexico City's black market labyrinth, Tepito. "The pills are stolen in the US and brought down here, that's why they've got no label," whispers a young vendor pulling a package of pale blue tablets from behind the jars of unguents he sells. "We're getting about 10 customers a day." It is no surprise that in a country where some men wear their machismo like a belt buckle, a pill to prevent impotence is likely to be a big seller. The health ministry estimates the problem affects up to 10 per cent of the adult male population and in Mexico City food markets, herb sellers do brisk business with teas to boost "sexual appetite". They say clients often are older men trying to keep up with their mistresses. Doctors who treat impotence say Mexican men -- especially those above 50 -- are starting to overcome taboos and consulting them about their sexual ailments, albeit often at the insistence of their female partners. "This is one of men's main problems now," says Carlos Millan, a urologist in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. "If he doesn't have the right sexual responses, his wife will kick him out." Dr Millan is one of a few Mexican physicians who is providing Viagra to patients already. He says he has issued 60 prescriptions in the last few weeks, receiving the drugs via mail order from the US. Demand is strong, though the cost of the drugs at some $10 a pill is prohibitive for many Mexicans who earn half that amount a day. Dr Millan's patients include Americans who have crossed the border hoping Viagra will be cheaper in Mexico. But Mexicans have not been put off by the price or the scarcity of the pills. "People are already coming in, speaking in a low voice, asking for Viagra," says Policarpo Villalva, head of the Chemists Union in Ciudad Juarez. "Before, all they would hear was their friends telling them to go and visit the lady next-door." PFE: Quote