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

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (4049)	7/8/1998 6:33:00 PM
From: Barron Von Hymen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

Oh poor Vivus, I'm crying a river for you - not. Earnings should be good for PFE.

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (4049)	7/8/1998 7:04:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Help! The Viagra police are after me by Mark Hughes-Morgan Ian Pont believes he is the first victim of the so-called "V-Men" - the task force set up last week by the Medicines Control Agency to clamp down on the unlicensed supply of Viagra, the anti-impotence "wonder drug". A former professional cricketer - pace bowler for Essex and Nottinghamshire - Pont runs a mail-order herbal medicine company, Sunlife Health, from his home in Wickford, Essex. He recently started to market a remedy called Yohimbe Plus. A blend of bark, ginseng and amino acids, its blurb was effusive. "Tried and tested Yohimbe," it read, "the bark from an African tree, is considered to be one of the most effective natural aphrodisiacs." Pont says: "In Africa they brew the bark in tea. Millions use this product in America, you can buy it over the counter. It's completely safe." But then along came Viagra - and Pont seized the opportunity to capitalise on the extraordinary interest in the drug. He began promoting his herbal alternative as "Nature's Answer to Viagra" - and his troubles began. A few days ago, Pont and his wife returned from holiday to find two investigators from the Medicines Control Agency outside their house. "It was 8.30pm and there were two of them, a man and woman, standing on the doorstep," says Pont. "They said they had a warrant. We had had no warning, no letter, nothing. But, even though it was not convenient, we let them in." The two investigators handed the Ponts a letter which accused them of supplying a drug, "yohimbine bark", which "is restricted under current legislation ... and therefore can only be supplied from a registered pharmacy or hospital". It went on: "You are required to cease all marketing and sales of Yohimbine Plus immediately." Pont was mystified. "There is no such thing as 'yohimbine bark'. It's yohimbine or yohimbe bark. How could it be banned? "I believe there is pressure from the drugs companies to stop people capitalising on all the interest [in Viagra]." The MCA denies this categorically, and pointed out to Pont that yohimbe bark "is restricted in the United Kingdom by Part 1 of the Schedule to the Medicines Order 1977/2130 and can only be supplied by a registered pharmacy or hospital." Pont believes there has been a confusion. "There is a synthesized drug based on yohimbe," he says. "It is called yohimbine hydrochloride, but it has a totally different molecular structure to Yohimbe Plus." Yohimbe works by increasing blood flow to the genitals. The effective ingredient, yohimbine, is an alkaloid, which seems to reduce the effect of some hormones that cause constriction of the blood vessels to the penis. These hormones increase as men get older. Dr Richard Petty, Medical Director of the Wellman Clinic in central London, has imported a synthesized version from Switzerland for his own patients "over a number of years", and reports mixed results. "It works for some people but not for others, so I don't use it much now. There is a low success rate, but medical journals indicate that for people for whom it worked, it worked very well. It wasn't a placebo effect. So I still have a few patients who are happy to take it." He was very surprised to learn that you could buy the bark in the UK, and that the MCA has tried to stop its sale. "America is just as particular as we are, if not more so, about what they allow the public to do and I'm sure they would have done something about this if it had been particularly dangerous." He does, however, admit that there is always a risk of people taking excessive doses, particularly with substances used for sex. According to Judith Atkin, a pharmaceuticals broker who represents Phillips Nutritionals, manufacturer of Yohimbe Plus: "There's nothing to stop you ordering it outside the country by credit card. It's freely available on the Internet and in Europe. That is what is so daft about the rules in this country." Which is no help for Ian Pont, who was given seven days to comply with the order to stop selling Yohimbe Plus. "It is quite ridiculous that a product used safely by millions throughout the world is banned in Britain, when the alternative, Viagra, has already been behind several deaths." c Associated Newspapers Ltd., 07 July 1998 This Is London