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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (5773)	10/2/1998 9:33:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Pentagon Puts Viagra Costs at $50M Friday October 2 7:28 PM EDT By ALICE ANN LOVE Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Pentagon estimates it will spend around $50 million in the coming year to provide the impotence drug Viagra to American troops and military retirees. The cost _ roughly the price of two new Marine Corps Harrier jets or 45 Tomahawk cruise missiles _ is among the unexpected military expenses that Pentagon officials recently told Congress have come up since they made their original 1999 budget requests. ''Viagra sort of burst on the scene,'' Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner said Friday. Based on the number of soldiers, sailors, pilots, Marines and retirees asking for Viagra so far at military clinics and hospitals, Defense Department health officials estimated that if the drug were given to everyone who wanted it, the cost could top $100 million. But the military is limiting Viagra to men diagnosed with erectile dysfunction by a doctor. Also, no one is allowed more than six pills a month, and according to a written Pentagon policy, '''lost', 'stolen', or 'destroyed' tablets will not be replaced.'' Viagra costs $8 to $10 a pill. At that rate, the Pentagon's estimate of spending $50 million would pay for 5 million to 6 million of the pills. The Pentagon provides health care to about 1.2 million troops and 5 million dependents and retirees. Since Viagra was authorized for sale in the United States in March, the drug has been prescribed to more than 4 million American men, according to its maker, New York-based Pfizer Inc. (PFE - news) Safety risks to people with heart problems and the cost of pills have led some private insurers to deny or limit coverage. In July, the Veterans Affairs Department announced it would not include Viagra among the drugs that must be available at all its medical centers because Viagra had the potential to eat up as much as 20 percent of the VA's entire pharmaceutical budget. VA officials can decide on case-by-case whether to provide Viagra if a physician finds a compelling reason to use it. The military's projected Viagra expenses were first reported by Cox News Service. Impotence increases with age, and is mostly caused by such medical problems as diabetes, heart disease, prostate surgery and spinal cord injury. It also can be psychological or a side effect of certain drugs. Men are supposed to take no more than one prescription-only Viagra pill a day, about an hour before intercourse. Heart patients taking nitroglycerin should not use Viagra because the drugs can interact to reduce blood pressure, doctors said.

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (5773)	10/2/1998 9:37:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

New Zealand - Viagra buyers warned off The Press On Line October 02, 1998 WELLINGTON -- Impotence specialists in Wellington are ordering shipments of the drug Viagra from overseas to stop their patients ordering it over the Internet. Viagra is not expected to be distributed in New Zealand before December, although it was approved by the Health Ministry's medicines' assessment advisory committee last month. Sexual health specialists say they are importing the drug from overseas suppliers. The Male Clinic director, Rhona de Boyer, said yesterday that any doctor could bring it into New Zealand on a "named patients" basis. "We resisted bringing it in as long as possible. But because our clients, some of whom had contra-indications to using the drug, were ordering it over the Internet, we decided it would be more responsible for us to prescribe it." Consumers' Institute chief executive David Russell said men seeking virility by buying Viagra over the Internet could find themselves the victims of clear-cut fraud, dodgy drugs, and rip-offs. -- NZPA press.co.nz