No more bitter pill, Mexico's Viagra is chewable
Source: Agencies |
March 19, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MEXICAN men who have difficulty swallowing Viagra pills will soon have a chewable version of Pfizer Inc's impotence drug.
Known as Viagra Jet, it was developed over four years in Mexico, where the company will start selling it from Monday.
The United States pharmaceutical company said on Thursday that the chewable form of the 13-year-old pale blue pill was developed in response to studies of the Mexican market, which is Viagra's biggest in Latin America after Brazil. "It's a new alternative for patients and doctors," said Beatriz Romero, Pfizer's marketing manager in Mexico. "The chewable format could appeal to patients, particularly those who can't swallow the tablets."
Pfizer said studies have shown that as many as 60 percent of people grind tablets or open capsules to make the contents easier to ingest.
About 6 million Mexican men suffer from impotence, according to a 2001 study published in the medical journal Revista Mexicana Urologia. Pfizer said it sells 3 million Viagra tablets a year in Mexico. According to research firm IMS Health, Viagra has about one third of the market share in Latin America's second biggest economy.
Viagra Jet is only available in Mexico, but the company may introduce it in other Latin American countries, depending upon local regulatory approval, Pfizer spokeswoman Karla Fuentes said.
Mexican sales of Viagra were just under US$55 million in 2010, according to IMS Health, while Pfizer reported global sales of the drug of US$1.93 billion. Despite these figures, Viagra sales never quite matched Wall Street's earlier hopes, in large part due to competition from Eli Lilly & Co's longer-acting Cialis brand.
Cialis posted sales of US$1.7 billion in 2010, up 9 percent on the previous year, while Viagra sales climbed 2 percent in the same period.
The development of Viagra Jet will not extend the drug's patent life beyond its 2012 expiration, Pfizer said.
Known as Viagra Jet, it was developed over four years in Mexico, where the company will start selling it from Monday.
The United States pharmaceutical company said on Thursday that the chewable form of the 13-year-old pale blue pill was developed in response to studies of the Mexican market, which is Viagra's biggest in Latin America after Brazil. "It's a new alternative for patients and doctors," said Beatriz Romero, Pfizer's marketing manager in Mexico. "The chewable format could appeal to patients, particularly those who can't swallow the tablets."
Pfizer said studies have shown that as many as 60 percent of people grind tablets or open capsules to make the contents easier to ingest.
About 6 million Mexican men suffer from impotence, according to a 2001 study published in the medical journal Revista Mexicana Urologia. Pfizer said it sells 3 million Viagra tablets a year in Mexico. According to research firm IMS Health, Viagra has about one third of the market share in Latin America's second biggest economy.
Viagra Jet is only available in Mexico, but the company may introduce it in other Latin American countries, depending upon local regulatory approval, Pfizer spokeswoman Karla Fuentes said.
Mexican sales of Viagra were just under US$55 million in 2010, according to IMS Health, while Pfizer reported global sales of the drug of US$1.93 billion. Despite these figures, Viagra sales never quite matched Wall Street's earlier hopes, in large part due to competition from Eli Lilly & Co's longer-acting Cialis brand.
Cialis posted sales of US$1.7 billion in 2010, up 9 percent on the previous year, while Viagra sales climbed 2 percent in the same period.
The development of Viagra Jet will not extend the drug's patent life beyond its 2012 expiration, Pfizer said.
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