Viva Viagra

Prepare to surrender, Prozac.

The anti-impotence drug Viagra is this year's drug store darling. With its promise to eliminate one of the most common causes of male insecurity, Viagra tops this month's pill parade.

Released by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in early March, the new drug has done far more than present a new potential cure for many of the estimated ten to 20 million Americans who suffer from impotency.

Prozac, the anti-depressant which chalks up some 70,000 prescriptions a day, has not yet been eclipsed by the new erection aid, which racked up sales of more than 200,000 new prescriptions in the week ending April 24.

But the contest isn't over. Viagra was approved only two months ago. Sales of the little blue pill are expected to exceed US$600 million this year, and break US$1 billion mark in early 1999. Needless to say, those figures have also boosted Pfizer's stock price an estimated 17 percent in the past two months.

And Viagra's popularity isn't just for Americans. While only approved for use in the U.S. and the Netherlands, demand for Viagra has created black markets in several countries. While Mexico has announced it does not plan to approve the drug any time soon, Israel is currently investigating illegal Viagra sales within its borders.

Besides the fact that sex sells, why the rush to the drug store? Just look at the competition, or rather what's left of it.

Prior to Viagra, impotence sufferers had relied on painful penile injections to achieve erections, spending some $25 million on the treatments. In 1997, when the Food and Drug Administration approved a new device which delivered the same drug without the need for a needle, spending on such treatments grew tenfold.

In the non-pharmaceutical category, vacuum pumps and surgical implants are the remaining alternatives, and both are a painful prospect for many men.

Viagra has its downsides: side effects include headaches, indigestion, and facial flushing. Patients taking nitrates, including the heart medication nitroglycerine, should not take Viagra. And, though it is far more user-friendly than the current alternatives, Viagra must be taken an hour before engaging in sexual activity.

But Viagra's success is already drawing imitators. Encouraged by Pfizer's success, other pharmaceutical firms are rushing their versions to market. All of which spells more choices for consumers in months to come.

Written by Sean Wolfe. Graphics by Frederick La Senna