1. Buy generic drugs instead of name brands. Check with your doctor first, but often generics are much cheaper alternatives to name brand drugs that do the exact same thing. This tip is especially true if you have taken a certain medication for a long time. It’s likely that in the years you have been taking it, the original patent expired which allows generic medications to be formulated. You could literally cut your costs in half just by checking into generics.
2. Consider a different brand name of medication. This tip requires that you pull out the prescription drug list for your insurance company. That’s because they group medications into categories usually called tiers and each tier is more expensive. The categories are usually called generic, non-preferred, preferred, formulary, etc. All this means is that certain brands cost more. Again, check with your doctor to see if you can switch brand names of medications to allow you to get cheap prescriptions.
3. Use your AAA Discount. If you are a member of AAA, then you may or may not know that you are automatically eligible for a 15% discount on brand-name prescriptions and a 35% discount on generic prescriptions. Just go to the AAA website and print out a card. You will present this card along with your AAA card to get the discount. Most places won’t give you a discount if you already have insurance. But if your insurance doesn’t cover a certain drug, then pull out the AAA discount.
4. Use your AARP prescription discount. This works very similarly to the AAA discount, but check them both because your prescription may cost less with one plan than the other.
5. Sign up for drugstore discount cards. Every major drugstore now has their own discount prescription program including Walgreens, CVS and Rite-Aid. These plans are usually free or very low cost, so look into them and see if they can provide you with discount medication.
6. Buy your prescription medications at Walmart. Love them or hate them Walmart saves you money. They offer a large number of prescription drugs for only $4 for a months supply. They call this program 4 prescriptions. To view the entire list of discount medications, go to: http://www.walmart.com/4prescriptions
7. Investigate prescription medication prices at Costco and Sam’s Club. Like Walmart, both Costco and Sam’s Club have prescription programs too, don’t leave them out when you are calling around for prices.

Tips & Warnings

• The best advice is to call all of the above places with a specific drug name and get the pricing. This will save you the most money and get you cheap medications.
• Unfortunately, you may have to place different prescriptions with different pharmacies. While inconvenient, it can be extremely cost effective.
• Although pharmacists are usually very well trained, don’t switch medications without consulting with your physician first.

In a press release, Pfizer stated the Canadian Federal Court in Toronto agreed that generic Viagra developed by Apotex would infringe on the American drug maker’s patent. Apotex spokesman Elie Betito said his company plans to appeal.

“We’re definitely moving to the next level,” he said. Taking the case to Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal will be pursued in line with the company’s goal of providing “affordable medication to patients.” He added that the appeal will probably take a year.

This is not the first time that Pfizer has had to fight to protect the patent for their erectile dysfunction medication. In a 2000 judgment in the U.K., Pfizer lost its first patent on Viagra as a PDE-5 inhibitor. The company retains the patent to sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra.

In 2004, the China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) declared the patent for Viagra as invalid in China because it did not conform with China’s Patent Law. Pfizer appealed that decision, however, and in 2006 a Beijing court sided with the drug maker.

Pfizer now competes in the U.S. market with the erectile dysfunction treatments Cialis from Eli Lilly, and Levitra, manufactured by Bayer-AG. All three drugs treat male impotence by acting as PDE-5 inhibitors, but each offers slightly different results. For most men, Cialis tends to be the fastest working and lasts longer period of effectiveness than either Viagra or Levitra.

Even with it’s increased competition, Viagra continues to be the top selling impotence treatment. The phrase “little blue pill,” part of Pfizer’s branding, has become virtually synonymous with male sexual enhancement.

Introduced in 1998, Viagra was originally tested as a treatment for angina. While it proved to be ineffective in treating that disorder, the male participants in the clinical trials reported an interesting side effect — a noticeable improvement in erection quality. The drug was subsequently approved and marketed as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. The discovery was a tremendous success for Pfizer, with Viagra sales bringing in over a billion dollars in its first three years.

Today’s ruling prevents Apotex from introducing a copy of Viagra for seven years. Pfizer is attempting to revive sales of Viagra, which have fallen 11 percent since 2003 to $1.7 billion a year, with a new advertising campaign.

Viagra use among men 18 to 45 increased more than 300 percent between 1998 and 2002, according to a study by Express Scripts, one of the biggest pharmacy benefit management companies in North America. The number of men using the drug for legitimate medical reasons declined during that same time period.

Young men are increasingly using Viagra as a recreational or enhancement drug, according to the study.

Ashton Kutcher, the popular 27-year-old actor, admitted dabbling with the drug in a recent interview with Glamour Magazine. “I tried it, but I’m not addicted,” he told the magazine. “I took it a few times recreationally. When I was a bit more sexually recreational – when you’re involved with multiple people – it helps.”

Some use it to ward off the effects of alcohol on sexual performance after a night out.

It’s easy to buy without a prescription over the Internet, according to Dr. Abraham Morgantaler, an associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School and author of “The Viagra Myth.”

Chino Ingram, a counselor at Vera House in Syracuse who works with young men, said he’s seen Viagra being sold on the street in Syracuse for as little as $5 a pill.

Doctors say taking potency pills you don’t need can have negative consequences.

What’s the downside?
Using Viagra or similar drugs such as Levitra or Cialis with large amounts of alcohol can lead to a drop in blood pressure, according to Dr. Richard Kronhaus, a Syracuse urologist. “That’s not a good thing,” he said. “Using any prescription drug without the supervision of a physician is not a good thing. Using one drug to counteract the deleterious effect of another is not a good thing. It could be like a truck driver using speed.”

On a purely medical basis, Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are benign drugs, according to Morgantaler. “These are very safe medicines that have been prescribed to millions of men,” he said.

The greatest danger of taking Viagra recreationally may be psychological, Morgantaler said. Some young men become psychologically dependent on the drug.

“Once they’ve taken this they may feel they need to take a pill in order to function adequately sexually. They are taking it for the emotional or psychological edge,” he said. “At what point do you say, “I don’t need these pills anymore.”‘

Morgantaler said many young men who use Viagra don’t tell their sexual partners about it. That can make it difficult to establish trust in a relationship. “If the partner finds out she may get angry,” he said. “Her response is going to be, “Why does he need a pill to have sex with me? How can I trust you?”‘

It’s not your father’s little blue pill anymore.

“A result of ecstasy is kids feel sexy but they can’t have an erection,” said Chris Haynes, 32, who gets the skinny on nightlife trends through his job as a Boston publicist. “So they take a Viagra and call it `Sextasy.’ ”

In the past two years, Kevin Kapila, mental-health medical director at Boston’s Fenway Community Health, has become all too familiar with the use of Viagra among young gay men to counteract the effects of methamphetamine use.

“The rise in crystal use is huge in the gay community here,” said Kapila. “It’s used in sex parties and sex clubs, and dance clubs, too.”

Indeed, a recent study by Express Scripts research director Tom Delate found that use of Pfizer’s Viagra by men ages 18 to 45 grew by 312 percent between 1998 and 2002. About 5 percent of the patient data surveyed came from Massachusetts Blue Cross/Blue Shield alone.

The revelers themselves wax rhapsodic about the drug’s expansive effects – though some add that newcomers to the class, such as Eli Lilly’s Cialis, pack a perkier punch.

“Cialis lasts for 36 hours,” said a man in his 30s who’s taken Viagra or its competitors six times in the past year. But that has a downside. “You can’t go to a gym,” he said. “If you ride a bike, you can forget about it.”

The man, who asked that his name not be used, popped the pills when he knew he’d be partying with two to four women at once. Intercourse is possible “with three women in a row easily,” he said, “like I was 15 again.”

Men straight and gay alike generally get their recreational supplies over the Internet, from friends with prescriptions or dealers, and even from Dad’s medicine cabinet.

The stuff doesn’t come cheap: Each pill retails for $12 – $15. But because 100-milligram pills cost the same as 50s, purchasing the higher dose and cracking it in two is the popular way to go.

Medical experts, however, sound a cautionary note – and not just because the drugs can have dangerous or even lethal reactions with other chemicals, such as nitrates. While doctors have become more comfortable prescribing the pills for performance anxiety to those well under Viagra pitchman Bob Dole’s advanced age, they’re worried that young men will see them as a panacea.

“My main concern has been among men 18 to 25 who may have no difficulties with erections and sexuality, but who have the impression that if they’re pharmacologically enhanced they’re going to be more adequate in relationships, a better lover, more appealing,” said Abraham Morgentaler, a Harvard Medical School urology professor and author of “The Viagra Myth” (Jossey-Bass, 2003), whose own patients have told him about parties among 20-somethings that feature “bowls of Viagra.” “They lose an opportunity to be accepted and loved for who they are.”

These websites often promote “Viagra” but send the consumer counterfeit drug. Some sites promote “generic Viagra” or “generic sildenafil citrate”.

Pfizer says there is no such things as a generic version of its product, because no other company is licensed to sell sildenafil citrate.

According to a recent study published in Britain, researchers purchased Viagra from several seemingly reputable Internet sources. They received what looked like branded Viagra, identically packaged like the real product. The sources of the pills were worldwide and included places like Thailand, India and Malta. The content of sildenafil was determined using near infrared microscopy.

Nearly half of the pills contained no active ingredient.

Sales of counterfeit Viagra and “generic” erectile dysfunction medications are largely driven through spam that promotes the purchase of these products. The entire profit is split between the online pharmacy and the spammer therefore making it one of the most profitable business opportunities for these so-called affiliates. “When all our relays are working, I make up to $15,000 in one day, ” said one spammer.

An investigative researcher for Impotence Magazine posed as an online pharmacy selling Viagra. By the end of the investigation, over forty prospective affiliates replied who wanted to sell the product via the high traffic generated by spam.

The investigator for Impotence Magazine also posed as a spammer by posting messages on Web sites for affiliate programs and received eight proposals from “bulk-friendly” online pharmacies. Currently, the two online pharmacies generating the most traffic from spam are “Health Suite” and “Human Nature”. They provide affiliates with numerous throw-away domain names owned by the same company that are designed to protect the Web site if a Web host decides to shut down one of the domains. All traffic is then shunted to the remaining domain names, ensuring uninterrupted spamming. In fact, the above mentioned sites have been spamming uninterrupted for over six months.

So-called “affiliate providers” have been paying off Web hosts and abuse administrators in China and other countries for years. One Affiliate Manager even guaranteed that the abuse administrator at their hosting company assures uninterrupted service in spite of complaints made.

Pfizer, in a move to thwart counterfeit Viagra, has included special radio frequency identification tags on all packages of its pill to verify they are the authentic Pfizer product. The world’s biggest drugmaker said the new technology, which is difficult and costly to duplicate, would create barriers “for criminals who might attempt to counterfeit our products.”

According to the FDA, drug counterfeiters defraud consumers by selling products that resemble legitimate drugs but may contain inactive or incorrect ingredients; contain improper doses of active ingredients; or be otherwise contaminated. Other risks and consequences of purchasing ED products online from illegitimate websites may include:

• Fake or “generic” ED drugs may be manufactured in unregulated factories, often in regions of the world that do not share the same rigorous standards for pharmaceutical manufacturing applied in the U.S.
• The drugs may contain dangerous additives
• The illegal drugs may not work as claimed, or at all
• Illegitimate pharmacies may take payment but not ship ordered products, or shipped products may be seized by the U.S. government because they are illegal
• Websites that distribute counterfeit ED pills, including “generic Viagra”, have been found to abuse credit card information

Note: It can be dangerous to get any drug over the Internet without a physical examination from your doctor including Viagra online. Do not use an Internet pharmacy that offers an online diagnosis for erictile dysfunction or any other condition. Pfizer does not sell Viagra over the Internet directly. If your doctor decides to prescribe Viagra for you, there are a handful of reputable online pharmacies. These are major, trustworthy pharmacy operations that sell drugs only if you have a prescription. Only your doctor knows if Viagra is right for you.

Client confidentiality prevents Andrew Schirmer from revealing specifics, but it’s easy to believe his claim that his job has been especially challenging lately.

Schirmer is trying to devise a new ad campaign for Viagra, Pfizer Inc.’s erectile dysfunction drug, after racy spots for impotency pills helped fuel the public’s ire over drug commercials. There hasn’t been a Viagra TV ad since November 2004, when regulators requested Pfizer halt the commercials because they violated several regulations, including making unsubstantiated claims.

“With all the sex in ads, this is the one place where we can’t use sex,” lamented Schirmer, managing director of McCann Humancare, an agency specializing in healthcare ads.

Facing a furor over its advertising practices and the potential of more government regulation, the pharmaceutical industry adopted voluntary guidelines to improve the accuracy and balance of ads so that the severity of diseases and drugs’ side effects aren’t whitewashed.

The guidelines, announced last summer, have already sparked changes: Spending on brand advertising is flat while disease awareness campaigns are flourishing. The look of the ads has become more straightforward; doctors describing products is becoming de rigueur.

The possibility of more government regulation looms. Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration held two days of public hearings on drug advertising and is now reviewing comments on the subject. The FDA said it was too early to say whether any new rules would be instituted, but some say it is likely.

“Whenever there is a public hearing, it is a sign that change is coming,” said Gary Messplay, a lawyer who represents drug companies. Although Messplay praised the guidelines, he said they were “a little too little, a little too late.”

Only 18% of consumers believe that pharmaceutical ads can be trusted “most of the time,” according to a study released last year by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s down by almost half since 1997, when one-third of people surveyed said you could trust ads most of the time.

The withdrawal of Merck & Co. pain reliever Vioxx in September 2004 cast a harsh spotlight on direct-to-consumer ads. The heavily promoted drug was found to have potentially lethal side effects after long-term use.

Last year, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) called for a two-year moratorium on advertising new drugs, saying commercials drove up healthcare costs. Thirty-five percent of Americans favor such a ban, according to a survey last year by Harris Interactive for the Wall Street Journal Online.

Total spending on drug advertising rose 4.9% to $4.7 billion in 2005, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Spending on branded ads was essentially flat at $4.1 billion. Both categories had been up more than 20% the previous two years.

The flat spending on brand advertising can be tied to the lack of ads for Vioxx and Pfizer’s Celebrex, as well as drops in advertising for impotency drugs and some antidepressants, said Jon Swallen, director of research at TNS.

Meanwhile, spending on corporate and disease-awareness commercials — a fraction of drug advertising — rose 44.4% to $523 million. The industry guidelines call for more disease awareness ads, such as Pfizer’s campaign on erectile dysfunction.

Schirmer says the new commercials reflect an environment in which companies are wary of airing campaigns that could violate industry guidelines or FDA regulations.

There has been “an explosion of white coats on television ads,” commercials featuring doctors discussing drugs’ benefits and risks, Schirmer said.

Ruth Day, a Duke University professor who studies drug ads, said the parade of doctors more accurately reflected the seriousness of prescription drugs than some earlier “cute” ads.

But the trend troubles some ad agency executives who say that if commercials look alike, patients will tune out the messages.

“There is just a lot of safeness out there now,” Schirmer said. “We can’t get the hotshot creative types we could two years ago, and that horrifies me.”

Clients may be less willing to take creative risks, said Matt Giegerich, president and CEO of communications company CommonHealth. For example, CommonHealth created a campaign for AstraZeneca’s cholesterol medicine Crestor, featuring a Dr. Seuss-like rhyme extolling the product, which was criticized for trivializing a serious condition. Giegerich doubted the ad would be accepted today even though it was very effective, because no company wants its commercial to be a lightning rod for critics.

Companies are shifting money away from television ads into other avenues such as public relations and the Internet because it is difficult to present a balanced portrait of a drug in a 30-second or 60-second spot, Giegerich said.

Pat Kelly, president of Pfizer U.S. Pharmaceuticals, said that the company was not skittish about creative commercials and that the new guidelines were “a perfect opportunity for [ad executives] to come up with new approaches.”

Meanwhile, the quest for the Viagra ad continues. No new campaign is scheduled, and Kelly concedes that developing new ads isn’t easy.

“This medicine is associated with sex,” he said. “Nothing associated with sex doesn’t create criticism.”

For most of his 20s, Eddie (a gay man who asked that his real name not be used) partied heavily. He spun from disco to disco, sampling all the recreational drugs offered to him on the dance floor, until one summer a group of friends told him about GHB. It gave you a sexy rush, they said. And it could kill you.

Though GHB sounded kind of scary, eventually he succumbed to peer pressure and tried it. “It was like ultra-ecstasy but more electric,” Eddie says. “It makes you very sexual.” As his peers got more and more into the drug, they’d sometimes go on binges for days and nights on end. Then a member of his group died after mixing a bad batch of GHB with alcohol, and two others went into convulsions in a nightclub.

It’s an increasingly familiar story. Though Eddie says he has outgrown the drug-taking days of his youth, many gay people are stepping up their use of recreational drugs as a part of their social rituals. The numbers show it too. The U.S. Customs Service recently reported seizing shipments of more than 9 million ecstasy tablets in the year 2000. That’s up from 3.5 million tablets in 1999 and only 750,000 in 1998.

The latest addition to the recreational drug cabinet is Viagra, often used to correct the impotency side effects of other club drugs, including ecstasy, ketamine, and crystal meth. Not satisfied with one buzz at a time, many gay men are mixing these and other drugs to create a custom-made, sometimes fatal high.

“It is kind of like playing Russian roulette with your body, and you never know what drugs will be the ones to set you over the edge,” says Kathy Watt, executive director of Van Ness Recovery House, a nonprofit GLBT counseling service based in Los Angeles, Calif. “It is like being a pharmacist without anything to measure it by, and it is all presented in a very seductive way.”

As recreational drug use continues to skyrocket, one of Watt’s organization’s current efforts is to raise awareness among gay men about the risk of mixing Viagra and amyl nitrite (“poppers”), which led to the deaths of three gay men in West Hollywood, Calif., in 1998.

The increase in emergency episodes related to the use of club drugs has not only affected the gay world but people of all sexual orientations. According to a recent study on club drugs from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ecstasy was mentioned nearly 3,000 times as the cause for emergency room visits nationwide in 1999, an increase of 150% over 1998. Over the same time period, mention of GHB climbed 131%, and ketamine nearly 90%. Though the study’s researchers did not perform a statistically valid analysis of deaths related to club drugs, they report more than 2,600 fatalities attributed to methamphetamines between 1994 and 1998 and 46 deaths involving ketamine, 27 deaths linked to ecstasy, and 12 to GHB in the same time period.

The two companies have filed a total of 17 new actions against defendants involved in the sale and advertising of potentially dangerous medications. Pfizer has filed civil actions against two websites that allegedly promote and sell products that are unapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pfizer also filed ten other domain name actions.

In conjunction with Pfizer’s suits against CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct, Microsoft filed civil actions against the spammers advertising for those websites. In addition, Microsoft filed three suits against spammers who advertise other online pharmacies known under a variety of names, such as “Discount RX,” “Virtual RX,” and “EzyDrugStore.com.” Together, these pharmacy spam rings have allegedly sent hundreds of millions of e-mail messages to Microsoft’s MSN Hotmail customers within the past year alone. The defendants allegedly use illegal and deceptive e-mail techniques that violate the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and other state and federal laws.

“As the maker of Viagra, the market leader in erectile dysfunction, Pfizer is committed to protecting the public from health and other risks associated with the illegal sale of fake and unapproved generic products claiming to be Viagra,” said Jeff Kindler, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Pfizer. “Pfizer is joining with Microsoft on these actions as part of our shared pledge to reduce the sale of these products and to fight the senders of unsolicited email that overwhelm people’s inboxes.”

“The collaboration between Pfizer and Microsoft is another wake-up call to those who abuse the Internet for illegal purposes. Leading businesses are teaming up, pooling resources and sharing investigative information to stop this illegal activity at the source,” said Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft. “At Microsoft we are combating this problem every way we can, including legal action, to ensure our consumers are protected from fraud.”

Pfizer and Microsoft first investigated CanadianPharmacy, a website advertised by high volume spamming. Working together, the companies’ investigators uncovered a highly sophisticated spam ring with several groups of affiliates all advertising websites associated with CanadianPharmacy. The spam directs recipients to one of dozens of identical websites. Many of these websites are registered with the true names and addresses of persons unassociated with the websites or spam rings, and who were unaware that their identities are being used in conjunction with these activities. Tracing the order process, investigators determined that the website encompasses an allegedly illegal pharmaceutical supply chain that spans the globe. Consumers place orders for drugs advertised as Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) or illegal “generic” Viagra on one of several websites advertised by spam. Once the consumers’ online orders are received on computers in New York, they are sent to a call center headquartered in Canada, and then on to India for processing. The orders are filled with illegal, unregulated and unapproved products. The illegal generic drugs are then shipped from India to the United States and delivered by an airfreight forwarding company based in the United States.

Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) is estimated to account for up to one out of four spam messages. Many of these spam messages link to illegal websites that promote “Viagra” and then send the consumer an illegal version of the drug. Purchasing illegal generic “Viagra” can pose safety and financial risks to consumers. These products may be manufactured in unregulated factories or back rooms that do not adhere to the same rigorous standards for pharmaceutical manufacturing required by the FDA. These illegal drugs may be contaminated, stored improperly, outdated, may not work as claimed, contain potentially dangerous ingredients or may have no effect at all.

The two lawsuits allege unlawful conduct involving trademark infringement and dilution and unfair competition under both federal and state law as well as deceptive trade practices in violation of New York state law. The complaints also allege that the defendants are selling and importing non-FDA approved sildenafil citrate in violation of U.S. law, including the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

The identities of the individuals controlling the sites are unknown and are therefore referred to in the complaints as “John Does.” Subpoenas directed to various ISPs and other companies will help ascertain their true identities.

Additionally, ten Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) actions were filed against heavily trafficked sites to seize domain names allegedly using Pfizer’s Viagra trademark in an unauthorized manner. All allege that the respondents are using the Viagra mark in bad faith to promote the sale of products that have not been approved by the U.S. FDA.

Microsoft filed two suits against the spammers promoting CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct, in conjunction with Pfizer’s suits against the operators of these online pharmacies. Microsoft’s lawsuits allege that the pharmacy spammers sent email with deceptive and misleading information in violation of the federal CAN-SPAM Act and other federal and state laws. Because of the deceptive techniques employed by the defendants to mask their true identities, Microsoft’s suits name “John Doe” defendants. Microsoft will issue subpoenas to ISPs and other companies to identify and locate the spammers.

About Viagra
Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) is a prescription medication indicated for the treatment of ED. Viagra is available only from health care providers and should always be used in accordance with its approved labeling. Viagra is contraindicated in patients who use nitrates in any form at any time.

Patients should discuss their general health status with their doctors to ensure that they are healthy enough to engage in sexual activity. If patients experience pain, nausea, or any other discomfort during sex, or an erection that lasts longer than four hours, they should seek medical help.

The most common side effects of Viagra® (sildenafil citrate) are headache, facial flushing and upset stomach. Less commonly, bluish vision, blurred vision or sensitivity to light may briefly occur.

Patients with recent serious cardiovascular events, hypotension or uncontrolled hypertension or retinitis pigmentosa did not participate in pre- approval clinical trials. In these patients, physicians should prescribe Viagra with caution. The use of Viagra offers no protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Discovered and developed by Pfizer, Viagra is the breakthrough oral treatment for erectile dysfunction that is found to be effective and well tolerated in more than 130 completed and ongoing clinical studies. Viagra has been approved by regulatory authorities in more than 123 countries around the world and is among the most widely prescribed medications, with more than 130 million prescriptions written for 23 million men worldwide.

In January 2005, tadalafil became the leading ED treatment in France, a lead it has held through May, based on the latest market share data. It is also performing very well in other countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Brazil.

“We are very pleased with the performance of Cialis and the steady development of the brand since its launch two years ago,” said Rich Pilnik, President of Lilly’s EMEA region. “Millions of men suffer from erectile dysfunction and the growth of the market demonstrates that patients are speaking to their healthcare providers about ED and seeking treatment options.”

Tadalafil was the second PDE5 inhibitor drug to become available in Europe. It is currently marketed in approximately 100 countries including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and across Europe and Asia.

“Passing the US$1 billion mark is an important milestone for Lilly ICOS and a great accomplishment for the Cialis team,” said Paul Clark, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICOS Corporation. “Since 2003, men with erectile dysfunction have had a choice of oral treatments for their condition — a condition which may impact on relationships and daily life.” In a clinical trial conducted in 2005, 77 percent of men experienced improved erections after taking a 20 mg dose of Cialis.

About Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
ED is defined as the consistent inability to attain and maintain an erection sufficient for sexual intercourse. Erectile dysfunction affects an estimated 189 million men worldwide. Experts believe that 80 percent to 90 percent of ED cases are related to a physical or medical condition, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and prostate cancer treatment, while 10 percent to 20 percent are due to psychological causes. In many cases, however, both psychological and physical factors contribute to the condition.

“We found only 21% of men preferred the new oral ED treatments Cialis (tadalafil) or Levitra (vardenafil) at the conclusion of the study,” said Hubert Claes, MD, Ph.D., University Clinic, Gastuisberg, Belgium. “Most long-term users of Viagra find the medicine works for them and are content to stay with the treatment.”

All patients in the study were Viagra users who requested a refill of Viagra. They were then asked to use vardenafil and tadalafil at least four times each and to report their experience using a validated questionnaire at the conclusion of the trial period with each product. At the end of the study, patients also were asked to identify the product they preferred. Only 19 of the 91 men in the study said they preferred to switch from Viagra to one of the new medications.

The results of this study by Dr. Claes are consistent with long-term efficacy and patient satisfaction studies conducted by Pfizer which showed that after four years 96 percent of men remained satisfied with Viagra. No oral PDE5-inhibitor has been shown to be more effective than Viagra. Viagra is a prescription medication indicated for the treatment of ED. Viagra is available only from health care providers and should always be used in accordance with its approved labeling. Viagra is contraindicated in patients who use nitrates in any form at any time.

Before treating ED, physicians should consider the impact of resuming sexual activity and the mild and transient vasodilatory effects of Viagra on blood pressure. Physicians should carefully consider whether patients with underlying cardiovascular disease or other more unusual conditions could be adversely affected by vasodilatory effects, especially in combination with sexual activity.

The most common side effects of Viagra are headaches, flushing and dyspepsia. Adverse events, including visual effects, were generally transient and mild to moderate.

Viagra is a breakthrough oral treatment for erectile dysfunction that has been found to be effective and well tolerated in over 130 completed and ongoing clinical studies. Viagra has been approved by regulatory authorities in over 120 countries around the world and is among the most widely prescribed medications, with over 130 million prescriptions written for more than 20 million men worldwide.

©2003 PR Newswire Association LLC

[tags]viagra, cialis, levitra, ed treatments, viagra alternatives[/tags]