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

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7191)	3/10/1999 8:20:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 9523

Be prepared to shell out hard cash Wednesday, March 10, 1999 WALLACE IMMEN The Globe and Mail Don't count on health plans to pay for a drug designed for play. Hundreds of thousands of Canadian men are considered candidates for Viagra, just approved for use in this country, but only the wealthy might be able to afford to the more than $10 charge for each pill that will not be covered by many insurance plans. In Canada, most provincial health plans consider impotence therapies to be lifestyle treatments not eligible for insurance payments. Private insurers' drug policies that cover them vary widely in what they will pay. "A number of insurers have already decided to exclude Viagra; others are going to cap the amount they pay," said Wendy Poirier, of Towers Perrin consultants in Calgary. A study the firm conducted for a number of companies anticipating Viagra's approval estimated covering the pills in an employee drug program could increase costs by 10 to 25 per cent. It estimates a year's supply of the drug could cost an average of $2,000 with dispensing fees. The most any insurance company polled by Towers Perrin has said it is willing to cover is $1,000 a year, Ms. Poirier said. Several companies suggested a "reasonable dosage" to be eight tablets a month. "The private insurers have to work it out with the contract holders -- the employers," said Claude Di Stasio, director of information for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association. "Some may say no. Some may say okay. But the trend we are picking up from surveys of our members is that most will use annual capitation [a yearly limit]." Tim Verbic, marketing development manager of SunLife, said most employers are suggesting a cap; the maximum the company recommends is $1,200. Some provinces may decide to include Viagra, but they haven't made decisions because the maker has not yet filed applications for coverage under health plans. When Pfizer begins lobbying for coverage, it will stress that erectile dysfunction is a medical condition, said Don Sancton of Pfizer Canada. Quebec's drug formulary already includes an injectable drug for erectile problems, but there has been no discussion of Viagra, said Marquis Nadeau, general director of the drug advisory council for the Quebec Ministry of Health. theglobeandmail.com

To: BigKNY3 who wrote (7191)	3/10/1999 8:23:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Sex, Drugs And Devices Through The Ages Wednesday, March 10, 1999 The Globe & Mail Sources: Various Ancient Egyptians used honey and native sodium carbonate to plug a woman's vagina and prevent pregnancy. They also used crocodile dung inserted as a pessary into the vagina. Ancient Greeks believed Aphrodite, Greek goddess of beauty and love, was created from the flesh of Uranus who had fallen into the sea during battle. As a result, foods that come from the sea have been considered sexual stimulants, especially oysters because of their resemblance to female genitalia. Ancient Chinese and Koreans have long associated Ginseng with boosting sexual pleasure. Chinese herbalism would later develop a whole range of sexual enhancement medications from ground rhinoceros horn to bear gallbladders, traditions which would later raise the ire of conservationists. The woman of Constantinople in AD 400 used sponges moistened with diluted lemon juices to prevent pregnancy. Sponges soaked in vinegar or soap solution are still in use today. Italian anatomist Fallopius invents a linen sheath for the penis in the early 1500s to prevent the spread of syphillis. Later the sheath would be named after King Charles II's court physician, Dr. Condom in the 18th century. Montezuma was on to something in the 1500s too. The Aztec ruler reputedly drank 50 cups of chocolate a day to boost his virility before he visited his harem. (It might have also worked if he had shared some.) Later, scientists would confirm that chocolate contained an amphetamine-like stimulant associated with love and lust. Casanova develops on a new take on Vitamin C in the mid-1700s. He advocates using a half of lemon (without the juice) fitted over the cervix as a birth control device. Aboriginal women of New Brunswick were known to drink a strong alcoholic solution brewed from dried beaver testicles to prevent pregnancy. A block pessary, a hard square rock with conical carve-outs, was tried as a cervical cap in 1931. It doubled as an instrument of torture. The birth control pill becomes available in North America in 1960. The sexual revolution starts. Brassieres are considered as an alternative energy source. Injection therapies are developed for erectile dysfunction in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This therapy, in which drugs injected directly into the penis, help relax the muscles and increase blood flow to the penis, sets the stage for the later gold standard of injection therapy. In 1980s, North American men options for increasing libido and enhancing performance would expand: everything from testosterone supplements to penile implants, in which an inflatable pump is surgically inserted in the penis, would be added to a growing list of performance enhancers. Penis lengthening surgery would also become popular. A study in the 1980s, confirmed what West Africans had known for centuries: that the bark of the yohimbe tree contained a chemical which raised erections in some men by increasing blood flow to the penis. The FDA later approved the herbal extract as a treatment for impotence. In Canada, the extract is sold as an over the counter herbal remedy. It has some toxic side effects. Sexual performance peaks in the 1990s. Monica Lewinsky reinvents cigars as sex toys. An Australian surgeon discovers the clitoris is much larger than previously understood. Viagra is approved in countries all over the world -- and finally in Canada in 1999. theglobeandmail.com