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

To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (9056)	6/3/1998 9:40:00 PM
From: VLAD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

TA, This time we have news after the bell about a physician dying after using Viagra. Will we hear about this on CNBC tomorrow? If so, what will be the "positive" spin. Somebody already mentioned that if these deaths were related to MUSE, Vivus would be history. Since the FDA and Pfizer are "good ole boys" this one too shall be swept under the rug. I guess the question will be how many men will die before there is a class action lawsuit against Pfizer? Look what happened to Dow Corning and breast implants. Not a shred of solid proof and the lawyers were able to financially destroy a very large company. Every woman with breast implants that had anything from malaise to a tooth ache blamed it on the inert implant. All the lawyers have to do is show that the men took Viagra and then droped dead. You can't prove deadly hypotension on a gross autopsy nor by histopathology. It is simply impossible. The jury will simply have to add 2+2 to reach a valid conclusion. It is as simple as cause and effect. You can only say so many times that the guys dying had cardiovascular problems and would have died anyway before one can conclude that at the very least Viagra should not be prescribed to men with any type of cardiovascular problem. Since the majority of organic ED cases have vascular etiologies, it would be logical to say that Viagra IS NOT safe when used on men with any type of underlying cardiovascular disease. This would include diabetics and smokers. TA, you have been warning everyone from long long ago that the convenience of a systemic remedy will have significant repercussions. How long are we to blame it on the nitrates or poor health? A few people die in Pinto crashes and Ralph Nader (that's right ONE man)is able to bring Ford Motor Company to its knees and have the vehicle discontinued. Maybe a concerned doctor will first have to write a book titled "Viagra, Unsafe In Any Patient" before we can see the reality behind the fact that Viagra although more convenient than MUSE or injections, has dangerous systemic effects that can kill men for the sake of producing an erection. It will probably be years from now before they conclude that chronic Viagra use leads to irreversible retinal damage. Pfizer will say in their defense that there was no way of knowing since they were granted fast track approval. The FDA granted fast track approval for a non life saving drug so it's OK that we later found that long term use destroys our eyesight. But if death doesn't matter, who gives a hoot about vision? VLAD