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Viagra vexes drug rivals
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August 25, 1998: 5:20 p.m. ET
Faced with Pfizer's blockbuster pill, competition barely rises to the occasion
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Time was when treating erectile dysfunction was the province of a few discreet (and dexterous) specialists who wielded an intrusive arsenal of needles, tubes and vacuum pipes that boasted all the delicacy of an elephant's snout.
Then, in March, came Pfizer Inc.'s "miracle pill" for battling male impotence, Viagra. And with it erupted an industry-wide skirmish for penal-priming supremacy that has left some pharmaceutical laggards holding the short end of the stick.
Nearly five months and 3 million prescriptions after Viagra took the drug industry by storm, the stragglers are finding that upstaging the world's most popular orally administered libido enhancer is a long shot at best.
"Viagra beat them all to it," said Alex Zisson, a pharmaceutical analyst at Hambrecht & Quist.
The blockbuster debut of the Pfizer drug, analysts note, has complicated efforts to market at least 13 other anti-impotence products that were either in clinical trials or already on the market when Pfizer broke its news.
At the same time, it has led some smaller companies which thought they had the perfect pioneering anti-impotence drug scrambling for life support.
The latest Viagra casualty
In the latest casualty of the Viagra wars, Vivus Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., said it was considering "strategic alternatives," including possible sale of the company.
Vivus' revenues derive almost exclusively from sales of its non-invasive impotence treatment drug, Muse. Unlike Viagra, however, which is taken orally, Muse pellets are placed in the tip of the penis.
Since Viagra's appearance, Vivus said, its sales of Muse had dropped from 15,000 to 5,000 a week. Meanwhile, Vivus posted a second-quarter loss of 76 cents per diluted share, down from a loss of 28 cents a share in the year-ago period.
On July 8, Vivus announced that it was seeking a partner to enable it to better compete with Viagra. On Tuesday, however, Vivus said it had hired investment banking firm Credit Suisse First Boston to help evaluate "alternatives that could enhance shareholder value."
Vivus is hardly alone among those hoping to topple Pfizer from its pedestal. But then again, neither are the legions of consumers who hail Viagra as manna from heaven: impotence afflicts an estimated 45 to 50 million men between the ages of 40 and 70 in the United States.
Zonagen Inc., a Woodlands, Tex.-based drugmaker that specializes in reproductive health and conception, is awaiting FDA approval of its own impotence pill, Vasomax. Zonagen plans to market Vasomax under a worldwide agreement signed with the Schering-Plough Corp. in November 1997.
Vasomax is said to enhance male sexual performance by dilating vascular muscles through which blood flows to the penis.
Though not much information is available about the pill, Zisson said early indications already suggest it may not work as well as Viagra. "It has more immediate side effects, such as flushing or dizziness," he said.
Non-oral treatments abound
Another needle-injected impotence product, Pharmacia & Upjohn's Caverject, got regulatory clearance on July 6, though it is unclear how well the drug has fared among consumers thus far.
Caverject, an non-oral version of Vasomax, enhances blood flow to the penis by relaxing smooth muscles. Patients initially receive injections from their doctor until they determine optimal dosing levels.
Vasomax and Caverject, unlike Viagra, use a substance called alprostadil to help dilate blood cells. These drugs will generally prove effective regardless of whether the patient is in a sexual situation. Part of Viagra's appeal, some experts say, is that it works only in sexual situations, in which physical arousal would ordinarily occur if the patient weren't impotent.
Viagra's virtuoso qualities have already prompted industry observers to speculate about would-be emulators. A recent report in Business Week touted an anti-impotence pill developed by biotech firm ICOS Corp. The report heralded the drug as possibly better than Viagra, with fewer side effects, sending ICOS shares surging 45.4 percent on heavy volume of 4.3 million shares.
Even with Viagra, however, recent sales figure indicate that what goes up must come down. At one point, Pfizer said doctors were writing nearly 50,000 prescriptions a day. For the week ended July 31, however, new written prescriptions totaled just over 95,100, of which about 79,000 were filled. That is down from a spring peak of about 300,000 orders a week.
Despite the drop-off, the Viagra craze also has spawned a cottage industry of scam artists in some unlikely places.
Two Germans currently are facing fraud charges in Hanover after allegedly selling customers "Viagra" pills at $55 a shot, which turned out to be peppermints dyed blue.
The real Viagra pill sells for $10 a pill. It does not come in peppermint flavors -- yet.
--By staff writer Douglas Herbert
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