Viagra to hit drug stores soon, Rush expected as Canada finally gives approval
March 10, 1999
By Leslie Papp
Toronto Star Medical Reporter
Pharmacists are bracing for a rush of orders from men eager to
obtain newly approved Viagra.
''Already people are asking for it - even doctors. It's going to
be a big hit,'' Emad Khalil, pharmacist at St. George Pharmacy on
College St., said yesterday.
''We tell them it's coming.''
Viagra has received federal approval and should be in
pharmacies in about three weeks.
Each diamond-shaped Viagra tablet is to cost $12 to $13, not
counting pharmacy dispensing fees. They will be in packages
of four or eight tablets.
Demand for the medication is expected to send employee drug
claims soaring.
Available in the United States since last spring, the blockbuster
anti-impotence pill gave rise to a steady flow of Canadians
heading south, prescriptions in hand, for Viagra.
''Now my patients won't have to shuffle off to Buffalo or
'Viagra' Falls,'' Dr. Jack Barkin, chief of urology at Humber River
Regional Hospital, said yesterday.
It's estimated that between 2.5 million and 3 million Canadians
have problems achieving and maintaining an erection. And
Viagra should be able to help most of them.
''This will have a tremendous impact on our patients' lives,''
Barkin told a Toronto news conference sponsored by the drug's
maker, Pfizer Canada Inc.
While Viagra has launched a thousand punch-lines and late
night comedy routines, impotence is a serious health problem
that threatens quality of life and relationships, Barkin said.
''It can lower self-esteem and increase depression, anxiety and
anger.''
Allard Gee suffered from sexual dysfunction for two years. ''I
was depressed,'' said the 58-year-old. ''I didn't really believe
Viagra would do anything for me - I was amazed when it did.''
Gee obtained the drug free-of-charge through a Viagra study
run by doctors in Kingston. His sex life was transformed, Gee
said, adding that he and his wife now go through about eight
pills a month.
''It gives you a much brighter outlook on life. You sort of feel
that life's worth living again,'' he said.
U.S. doctors have, so far, written prescriptions providing 60
million Viagra tablets to 3 million men, said Theresa Firestone,
Pfizer's vice-president of government and public affairs.
''The numbers are quite impressive,'' she said.
Counterfeit Viagra pills have
emerged in other countries
While refusing to speculate on Canadian sales figures for
Viagra, Firestone noted that the volume of drugs sold in this
country is, in general, about 10 per cent of that south of the
border.
Counterfeit Viagra pills have emerged in some parts of the
world, Firestone said, adding that, so far, ''There aren't any in
Canada, that we're aware of.''
To deter counterfeiters, the company's little blue pills are being
sold in blister packs of four or eight tablets, rather than bottles,
with each pack in a box bearing a special hologram.
Doctors caution that the newly approved drug isn't for
everyone. Men taking nitroglycerin-based heart medications, in
any form, must not use Viagra.
Nitroglycerin reduces blood pressure by relaxing and widening
arteries. But its effect is compounded when mixed with Viagra,
putting patients at risk of dangerously low blood pressure.
The drug poses little risk for heart patients who are not on
nitroglycerin, but they should be aware that having sex is an
exertion that can increase their risk of an attack, said urologist
Dr. Richard Casey, director of The Male Health Centres, a chain
of four clinics in Ontario.
''Sex is exercise,'' he warned.
More than 170 deaths worldwide have been indirectly liked to
Viagra, involving men who died shortly after receiving a
prescription. But ''there's no evidence that (the pill) adds to the
cardiovascular risk inherent in sexual activity,'' said Dr. Eldon
Smith, a University of Calgary cardiologist.
Studies of Viagra involving more than 4,500 men, including
almost 500 Canadians, have shown that the drug is safe and has
a 70 per cent success rate. Side-effects are fairly mild, the most
common being headaches, facial flushing or an upset stomach.
Viagra is only recommended for men who have serious erectile
dysfunction and it seems to be of limited use in enhancing the
sexual performance of normal men, Casey said.
''We're not concerned that it's going to create sex maniacs.''
Viagra isn't an aphrodisiac, Barkin said. It won't work without
sexual stimulation and can't increase a man's sexual desire or
libido. ''You can't just pop the pill and watch Oprah and expect
something to happen,'' Barkin said.
''Unless,'' he added, ''Oprah is exciting for you.''
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