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

To: Frostman who wrote (9705)	6/16/1998 10:39:00 AM
From: Frostman	Respond to of 23519

Interesting article on who is writing ED scripts, source IMS America. (excerpted) This begins to make sense with regard to the Vivus marketing plan and Leland's comment on the importance of patient education. I will post information on patient drug therapy compliance later on when I get a minute. By way of perspective, cardiovasculars garnered the top spot with 14.2% of total scripts written for the week ending May 1st, 98. This, in contrast to the 0.6% of total scripts written for the sexual disfunction drugs, all of them combined. Frostman ***********************************Half of Viagra Prescriptions Now Written by Primary Care Physicians PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA, May 12, 1998 - The Sexual Function Disorder market continues to see a dramatic increase in number of prescriptions since the launch of Pfizer's Viagra. The total number of prescriptions dispensed was 286,271 for the week ending May 1, according to IMS HEALTH. For that week, half the prescriptions were written by Primary Care Physicians and a third by Urologists. The opposite was the case during Viagra's first two weeks on the market where half were written by Urologists and a third by Primary Care Physicians. Nearly 53 percent of the prescriptions are being paid entirely by cash, with the balance involving third-party coverage. The number of pills per prescription has varied by channel and has decreased since the product's launch. Mail order prescriptions for Viagra now average approximately 20 tablets each whereas those prescriptions filled through other channels -- chain stores, food stores, and independent pharmacies -- are less than 9 each. During the first two weeks on the market, the average was 15 for those retail outlets, where the majority of the prescriptions are being filled. Perspective: Looking at the total pharmaceutical market, the top therapeutic classes for total prescriptions dispensed for the week ending May 1, 1998 were Cardiovasculars garnering 14.2% of all total prescriptions followed by Anti-infectives with 9.9% and Psychotherapeutics with 9.3%. The Sexual Function Disorder Market only held 0.6% of the total prescriptions dispensed for the week ending May 1. **********************************