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

To: Don Dunlap who wrote (3828)	6/30/1998 11:13:00 PM
From: VLAD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Don, Pfizer will be sued it is just a question of how many more weeks will pass before a class action announcement is made. Viagra was given fast track approval on a study of about 2,000 men who were able to have intercourse at least once in the month prior to entering the study. Men taking Viagra now are much more impotent and have more severe underlying health problems. Studies were not conducted with Viagra and concurrent use of all common high blood pressure medications. Concurrent use with Glucotrol is also now in question. The retinopathy issue also remains to be studied--the outcome I suspect will be to the detriment of Viagra. Again, I do not wish to see the PFE shareholder lose value. I just warn of the repercussions of Viagra.

To: Don Dunlap who wrote (3828)	7/1/1998 3:06:00 AM
From: zurdo	Respond to of 9523

If you are long Pfizer, why are you trying to bury it??? Could it be that you are also trapped in a much larger investment in VVUS??? After all, VVUS went down like a rock after Viagra was introduced, trapping a large number of investors who thought it would make a comeback....In the minds of many such investors, this is possible only if Viagra is removed from the market...Hence all this talk about Viagra deaths, eye damage, lawsuits against Pfizer, etc. etc.

To: Don Dunlap who wrote (3828)	7/1/1998 7:46:00 AM
From: DaiS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Don, It appears to me that at least one element of the death rate argument is applied incorrectly by most on this thread. Group A1: Suppose that in a group of 100,000 men not exposed to viagra, 100 die in a given time interval. Group A2: Suppose that in the same group of 100,000 men EXPOSED to viagra 100 die in the same time interval. The death rates are identical, and of course they cannot be significantly different statistically. But suppose that the 100 men that die in group A1 are actually saved by viagra - quality of life, self-esteem, not depressed etc, and are thus survivors in group A2. But in the 100,000 men there is a small subgroup of say 200 men that are particularly susceptible to viagra - heart conditions, diabetics etc. And 100 of these then die after taking viagra, and this gives the mortality in group A2. The death rates are the same for the 100,000, but dramatically increased for the subgroup of 200 when given viagra. My point is that in a society that prides itself on placing highly the rights of the individual, consideration of the overall death rate alone is not appropriate. IMO Pfizer and the FDA have a solemn responsibility to ensure that the subgroup of 200 are not endangered by viagra. We heard on the threads some time ago that Pfizer was collecting evidence that large population groups exposed to viagra had lower death rates - this is worrying. Quite a few people now have catastrophic and fatal allergic reactions to food items, eg peanuts. I don't think it has been suggested that peanuts should be withdrawn so why should viagra be withdrawn? Well, suppose I died as a result of eating a peanut: or, suppose I died because I went to a busy doc, asked for viagra, didn't have a real thorough examination, didn't understand the metre long list of instructions that come with the pills. I feel that my ethereal self looking down on my dead body would be much more pissed off with Pfizer than it would have been with the growers or distributors of peanuts. I am not convinced at all that viagra should be withdrawn, but it should be tested and its use regulated much more thorougly than appears to be happening at the moment, to protect those individuals in society that react deleteriously to it. The retinal problems are particularly worrying. Pfizer is a wealthy company that spends a lot on research - they have the resources to test drugs in a detailed and competent fashion. DaiS