Cialis Goes Up Against Viagra in Hypertension Add-On War

(MoneyWatch)  United Therapeutics has begun marketing a pulmonary arterial hypertension drug, Adcirca, made from Eli Lilly's Cialis ED drug, according to Investor's Business Daily. It will compete with Pfizer's Revatio, a PAH drug made from Viagra.

ED drugs seem to be garnering a nice secondary market in treating PAH. It's not going to drive any company's stock (except perhaps UT's), but Pfizer's Revatio grew 30 percent to $94 million in Q2 2009; it's one of few Pfizer drugs growing. The market is dominated by Actelion's Tracleer with $1.5 billion in global sales; $750 million in the U.S.

UT may have an advantage over Pfizer in PAH. The IBD:

... Patients can take one daily dose of Cialis to have the same duration of effect as three doses of Revatio.

Adcirca will be priced lower than Revatio, Fisher says. It will cost $8,000 to $9,000 per year, the same as daily Cialis.

It begs the question, will Bayer respond with a PAH version of its flagging Levitra? ClinicalTrials.gov already lists two studies of the drug in that condition here and here.