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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 (4183)	7/10/1998 11:40:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

From today's MSNBC - Pill promises safer impotency treatment SAN DIEGO - A pill undergoing clinical trials is being touted as an alternative to Viagra, without some of the wildly popular impotency drug's potentially dangerous side effects. It is called Vasomax, produced by Texas-based Zonagen. The company says it works faster and is safer than Viagra. "Viagra has made a real boon because it's very simple," says San Diego urologist Dr. Phillip Wise. But Viagra does have one major drawback. It interacts with common heart medications called nitrates. "Viagra can cause a precipitous or a sudden drop in their blood pressure to the point that they may die from it," Wise says. In fact, the drug is linked to dozens of deaths. The Food and Drug Administration lists some victims on its web site, but says Viagra is safe. The makers of Vasomax say it poses no such danger. "We've been using Vasomax on patients for about two years," says Dr. Stephen Auerbach, a urologist in Newport Beach. He has given the new drug to some of his patients as part of a trial. "We've had some very positive feedback from a number of patients, that it's changed their lives." He says Vasomax won't work for everyone. But it does have another advantage. "Vasomax is absorbed a little bit quicker. It can be ready after usage within about 25 minutes where Viagra can take closer to an hour," Auerbach says. Vasomax is already available by prescription in Mexico under the name Z-max. But pharmacists say it's not as popular as Viagra and people are not aware of it. Vasomax is expected to be approved in the United States next year. Both Viagra and the new drug cost about $11 for one pill. The treatment is so expensive that HMOs like Kaiser have refused to pay for Viagra, and many states would not allow their Medicaid programs to cover the costs until the federal government ordered them to do so. Wise believes two drugs that do basically the same thing will be good for consumers. "Yeah, I think it's good to have a choice. You get competition, and then the price goes down, and that's better for everybody concerned." msnbc.com