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

To: djane who wrote (6805)	1/25/1999 8:48:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Viagra Gets Speedy Approval in Japan --- Pfizer Pill Could Be Highly Popular in Country With Aging Population By Yumiko Ono 01/26/99 The Asian Wall Street Journal Page 1 TOKYO -- Pfizer Inc. received an unusually speedy approval to sell its Viagra in Japan, opening up another potentially lucrative market for the popular but controversial anti-impotence drug. Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it had approved Viagra for sale in Japan. The U.S. drug giant's Japanese unit, which expects to start selling Viagra in a month or two, wouldn't say how much sales it expects from the drug in Japan. But Toshihide Yoda, an analyst at ING Baring Securities Ltd., said he expected Viagra 's sales here to exceed 10 billion yen, or about $90 million, in the first year. That would make it one of the nation's biggest-selling drugs. Pfizer said there are an estimated six million to seven million men in Japan suffering from erectile dysfunction, compared with about 30 million men in the U.S. Although Viagra is already sold in about 40 countries around the world, Japan could be a particularly lucrative market for Pfizer because of the increasing number of aging baby boomers, and their eagerness to obtain even folk remedies in hopes of boosting their sexual vitality. Everything from viper-essence drinks to organs of endangered animals are easily bought here. And while the health ministry was mulling Viagra 's approval, some men were already snaring the drug by importing it through middlemen. Analysts noted that Viagra 's approval, which came just six months after Pfizer's application, was unusually quick, perhaps because of concerns over unregulated imports of the drug. Indeed, Viagra could be dangerous for people taking other drugs for heart conditions. One man is reported to have died here last year after taking Viagra . A health-ministry official said most drugs have needed about a year and half to get approval. But he stressed that the speedy approval was unrelated to the imports. It is still uncertain how pricey Viagra will be in Japan. A Pfizer spokesman in Tokyo said the company has asked the government to have Viagra covered by health insurance, but hasn't yet received an answer. In the U.S., where Viagra costs about $8 to $10 a pill, some managed-care companies are starting to clamp down on reimbursement. It is important for Pfizer to do well in new markets such as Japan because enthusiasm in the U.S. is already cooling and sales are becoming lackluster. In the fourth quarter, Viagra 's world-wide sales jumped to $236 million from $141 million in the third quarter, mostly because of strong sales in Europe, where the drug was recently approved.

To: djane who wrote (6805)	1/25/1999 8:51:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Respond to of 9523

Women will be wanting orgasms next JOAN SMITH 01/24/99 The Independent - London FINAL Page 25 I ONCE MET a woman who confided, over dinner, that she had not had an orgasm until she was nearly 40. There was nothing unusual about her story, just a note of regret in her voice that she had had to wait so long. She had never consulted a doctor about it, assuming that her GP would not regard it as a medical problem or that she had had bad luck with men, a circumstance which clearly fell outside his remit. Not any longer: on Friday, the demand for orgasms on the NHS reached a deafening crescendo, with doctors suddenly discovering that a full sex life is vital to health. "Cruel and unethical" was the reaction of the British Medical Association to a decision by the Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, to allow GPs to prescribe the anti-impotence drug Viagra only to men suffering from specific medical conditions. The BMA is advising doctors to go on prescribing the drug on the NHS to all impotent men who seek their help, in defiance of the guidelines, during the six- week consultation period before the restrictions come into force. "When I hear people talk against prescribing Viagra , I think they are probably not having to sit in a surgery and explain to a patient who is in desperate need," said Dr Ian Bogle, chairman of the BMA. Desperate need? I do not much like the idea of drug rationing. I am sorry for men who, for whatever reason, have erectile problems. But if anyone seriously doubts that we continue to live in a phallocentric culture, let me cite in evidence Friday's newspapers, where the Viagra -rationing story was on the front pages of the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and the Express. In the Sun, an anonymous journalist - I do hope it was not my new friend, Mr Yelland - identified himself as a Viagra user and denounced the decision to limit prescriptions as "arrogant, cruel and unfair". It is hard to imagine anyone making a comparable fuss if someone invented a female orgasm pill and the NHS declined to make it freely available to every adult woman in this country who would like to improve her sex life, (Multiple orgasms, doctor? Yes please.) When the idea of such a drug was mooted a couple of years ago, there was a brief flurry of interest in the media, followed by total silence. Friends of mine have been speculating, for some months, about whether Viagra works for women - there seems to be no logical reason why it should not stimulate the clitoris as well as the penis - but would any GP prescribe it to a female patient who wanted a livelier time in bed? I don't think we need waste much time on that little conundrum. There is an obvious parallel here with recreational drugs such as cannabis. I am in favour of the legalisation of soft drugs but I have never heard anyone argue that they should be available on the NHS, except to sufferers from illnesses such as multiple sclerosis. This, as it happens, is one of the conditions for which Viagra will continue to be available on prescription, along with diabetes and spinal cord injuries. My only criticism of Mr Dobson is that he has not deregulated Viagra altogether, allowing it to be sold in handy little packs from dispensers in men's lavatories, like the ones which currently disgorge condoms. Or women's lavatories, come to that. Now that orgasms have been established as an inalienable human right, to be prescribed by rebel GPs at taxpayers' expense, we can hardly expect disappointed women just to lie back and think of England.