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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (6172)	10/29/1998 6:31:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9523

Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 30 Viagra on sale, has few takers DRUGSTORES have begun selling the anti-impotence drug Viagra yesterday, but there have been more inquiries than actual sales, according to drugstore owners. Meanwhile, an official of Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, said the firm was keeping a close watch on the sales of the drug especially in the provinces where customers were usually friendly with pharmacists. ''We expect that despite our efforts to inform the public that you need to see a doctor before you can buy and take Viagra, many Filipinos will still try to buy it without a prescription,'' said lawyer Renato Salud, Pfizer associate director for corporate affairs. ''We know that some will try to talk the pharmacists into giving them the drug even if they don't have a prescription,'' Salud told the Inquirer. Pfizer and owners of 850 drugstores authorized to sell Viagra signed a memorandum of agreement on the proper selling of the pill. The agreement was made in response to calls by government officials and leaders of the medical community for the strict and proper dispensation of the pill. But Rodel Vizconde, owner of the Marcelo drugstore in Makati, said he had received about 100 inquiries a day since he began advertising Viagra on Monday, but had only sold about five tablets each day. ''Many people ask about it, but a lot of them are taken aback when they learn of Viagra's price,'' he said. A regular 50-milligram tablet costs P450, the price of enough rice to feed a family of five for three weeks. ''Being a prescription drug, we don't expect many to buy it,'' Vizconde said. ''Like the condom before, Filipino men are too embarrassed to buy the drug.'' Doctors estimate about 2.8 million Filipino men suffer varying degrees of erectile dysfunction. Vizconde said among the inquirers was an old jeepney driver, who said he would have to save his earnings for several days to afford the drug. The Mercury drugstore chain, the country's largest, said it distributed the drug to its stores on Wednesday and would not know sales figures until after a month. But a saleswoman at a Mercury drugstore in Ermita said they had only one purchaser yesterday--one man who bought 14 tablets. 208.240.90.97