Pfizer Preps Viagra 2 for 2011, but What on Earth Is It?
Pfizer (PFE) has given ad agency JWT a 2011 assignment for something that everyone is calling "Viagra 2." Pfizer is staying mum on what, exactly, "Son of Viagra" might actually be; and the agency itself says "The whole 'Viagra 2' thing is not right." So what could this be?
The speculation is that this is Pfizer's second attempt to persuade British authorities to allow Viagra to be sold over-the-counter, without a prescription. In 2007, the U.K. briefly allowed Viagra to be sold in three Manchester chemists, but the experiment was stopped over fears that some men would get the drug without being counseled about serious underlying health problems that can cause erectile dysfunction.
Pfizer is not outright denying that it wants to sell a non-prescription version of the Blue Diamond. It's previously put up a vigorous defense of that plan. However, Pfizer has never added a new formulation of Viagra to its pipeline summary.
Here's a scenario in which JWT's assignment makes sense: Viagra loses its exclusive patent protection in March 2012. It will then face a flood of cheap generic versions of Viagra that any company can make. Patients will have difficulty distinguishing genuine product from knockoff pills made by questionable factories in China. To combat that, Pfizer may seek permission to advertise to patients the benefit of getting prescription Viagra rather than buying a handful of pills from some bloke you met in the pub.
Or, Pfizer may use the "generic flood" scenario to persuade the European Medicines Agency that OTC Viagra should be given a second chance. That would require a lot of public relations; hence the need for JWT.
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