Pfizer: Viagra and otherdrugs safe

THE sale of Viagra and other Pfizer drugs has been seriously affected by reports of faked Viagra on the market. The declining sales forced Pfizer to yesterday assure the public that its drugs are safe, once purchased from the authorised distributors. Yesterday Pfizer placed a paid advertisement in Newsday advising that Hand Arnold Limited and Marketing and Distribution were the only two official distributors for Pfizer pharmaceuticals. The Pfizer ad further stated that it “guaranteed the authenticity of all its pharmaceuticals, including Viagra, that are supplied through these two distributors.” A local spokesperson for Pfizer told Newsday its sales were affected following the Newsday report on April 27.

She said customers not only questioned the authenticity of Viagra, but also of all Pfizer drugs. She said pharmacists came under a lot of pressure and some even threatened to “send back its products” to the distributors. She said the company was not unhappy that people were made aware of fake drugs, but because Viagra was manufactured by Pfizer, and was popular, all other Pfizer drugs came under scrutiny by customers. She said the company had statistics showing the impact the report had on sales, but it was the company’s policy not to make those statistics public. She said local distributors felt an immediate response assuring its customers had to be made, but clearance had to be sought from Pfizer international headquarters.

Newsday reported on April 27 that the male sexual enhancing drug, Viagra, was  among hundreds of other drugs, which are part of a US$500 million fake drug scam, forty per cent of the drugs dispensed locally are described as fake. The disclosure about the booming fake drug industry was made at the recent two day conference on “Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting” hosted by CARIRI at the Trinidad Hilton. President of the Pharmacy Board of Trinidad and Tobago, Wazir Hosein, had said that some of the fake drugs included Viagra, those used for the treatment of cardiac conditions, Pharmaton capsules (a multi-vitamin with minerals and ginseng) and oral contraceptives.