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

To: John Ferguson who wrote (3138)	6/2/1998 11:02:00 PM
From: Solid	Respond to of 9523

Israel Happy now! Israel Drops Ban on Impotence Pill Reuters 02-JUN-98 TEL AVIV, June 2 (Reuters) - Israel's Health Ministry said on Tuesday it was dropping a ban on prescribing the impotence pill Viagra. The ministry last week prohibited the use of the drug pending clarifications from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the pill's maker Pfizer, following the deaths of six American men who were taking the drug. ''We were waiting for clarifications that the FDA was continuing to allow the use of Viagra. We were also awaiting clarifications of the drug's contraindications,'' Joshua Shemer, the Health Ministry's associate director-general for medical technology and infrastructure, told Reuters. Pfizer said last week it had reviewed the circumstances surrounding the deaths and decided not to make any changes to the drug's labelling, which warns against mixing Viagra with certain heart medications. The label was approved by the FDA before Viagra was made available. Pfizer reiterated that patients taking nitrates in any form should not take Viagra. Having received the clarifications it sought, the Israeli Health Ministry is again permitting doctors to prescribe the drug, which is available in Israel only by personal import. This means a patient with a doctor's prescription for Viagra must receive approval from the ministry's district pharmacists. ''The drug is FDA-approved but it has not been approved in Israel,'' Shemer said, noting that Pfizer had not yet filed a formal request to sell Viagra in Israel. Once Pfizer or its local importer files such a request the Israeli ministry will evaluate the drug, though Shemer noted the ministry relied strongly on the FDA's opinion.