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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 (5591)	9/18/1998 12:26:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Bloomberg:Pfizer's Viagra Linked to Patient's Heart Attack, Lancet Says Bloomberg News September 17, 1998, 7:01 p.m. ET London, Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A man with no prior history of cardiac problems had a heart attack after taking Pfizer Inc.'s blockbuster impotence drug Viagra, the latest in a series of reports to raise concern about the drug's side effects. Researchers said there was a suggestion of a link between taking Viagra and heart attack in the case of a man, aged 65 and with no record of high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. Within 30 minutes of taking the drug the man suffered acute chest pain. ''The close temporal relation between ingesting sildenafil (Viagra) and the onset of severe chest pain due to acute myocardial infarction ... suggests hat sildenafil was causally related'' to the heart troubles, doctors said in a report to British medical journal The Lancet. The report comes as safety concerns about Viagra are mounting. In the U.S. 69 patients who took the drug between March and July later died. Pfizer and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintain Viagra is safe when used properly. The novelty of The Lancet's findings, though they concern only one patient, stems from the man's lack of previous heart troubles. Doctors and the company itself have warned of the potential for heart problems in patients taking heart medications that can have dangerous interactions with Viagra. For example, in most of the 69 deaths reported by the FDA in the U.S., where the drug has been sold since April, patients were found to have at least one risk factor for heart disease. That's why the FDA has said it hasn't found Viagra to be the direct cause of death. Viagra has seen unprecedented demand and garnered sales of more than $400 million in its first three months on the market. The company has recently faced several lawsuits from men who claimed they suffered heart attacks after taking the drug, The drug was approved for sale in the 15-nation European Union earlier this week. While the Viagra label doesn't contain a specific warning for heart patients, it does advise doctors that sexual activity carries risks, and ''physicians may wish to consider the cardiovascular status of their patients before prescribing the drug.'' --Marthe Fourcade in the London newsroom (44171) 330-7171 with