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

To: AlienTech who wrote (13641)	8/19/1998 2:26:00 AM
From: Zebra 365	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 23519

TO ALL: Another story from the trenches. First, I want to remind you all that I remain totally anonymous on the web. One of the main reasons that I do so is that I can then speak truthfully about real episodes in my practice without the chance of violating patient privacy. My youngest ED patient (39) came in for a three-month check on his high lipids (probably the source of the vascular ED). At his last visit in May he asked about Viagra for his ED and, with no other contraindications, he was prescribed it, 50 mg. We did not discuss MUSE at that time, (just so you know I do not believe that my small amount of prescribing is going to help or hurt anybody's stock price, and I'm not "pushing" MUSE.) I asked him today how it was working. He said, "OK" but didn't sound convincing. I waited, (silence is an effective interviewing technique), he said, "Sometimes it doesn't work for two hours so I take a second or a third pill. But then it gives me a headache so I have to take some Advil which kills the whole idea, doesn't it? And it makes my heart race so fast that it scares me..." I said, "If there was a medicine that would work locally, without those side effects, but was more trouble, would you be interested?" He said, "Yes, is there anything else like that?" He left with a MUSE Rx and a video tape, I'm not going to chase him down and ask if it works, but I'll ask at his next checkup. The point is this, most of those Viagra patients who have side effects, or fail to respond, DO NOT KNOW THERE IS ANOTHER TREATMENT!! They won't bother to ask, many patients are uncomfortable at telling a Doc that something doesn't work. I see many who have left other docs and come to me (and I'm sure many go that I don't hear of) where they get just what the first doc would have given them had he known his(her) first trial didn't work. To, me this is the one benefit I see coming from DTC advertising, people know to ask about alternatives only if they know that they exist. This is driving me crazy, a perfectly good product that would be sold right now (by a company that I have invested in) if it was marketed!! This company was supposed to ride the coattails of the Viagra boom, NOW IS THE TIME !! I have tried not to criticize management, but I think they are quibbling with a marketing partner over percentages. It is going to take a lot of money to get the word out. Vivus is going to have to take a lower gross margin in selling product through such a partner or sell the company to someone who has a marketing force in place, and can move NOW in the USA. I don't care how big the Asian market is, the only way to make money selling to the Asians is to manufacture it there with cheaper labor. I have a friend who is in a JV with the Chinese govt making 19" B&W TV's in China and selling them for $15 each and MAKING A PROFIT!! (The Chinese won't let him export them, they have to all be sold in China.) Is Vivus going to sell a lot of MUSE units for the price of a TV? Get real!! No other country in the world will pay as high a price for one MUSE unit as the USA, Vivus blew their chance to do it here by themselves. Time to realize it and take action to salvage THIS market NOW. Sorry for being so long winded, I'll try to stick to short, personal attacks on other posters in the future. Don't want to stand out. Zebra