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Pfizer to Seek Approval for Alternative Use for Viagra
Dec. 4--Viagra soon may have a new use.
Pfizer Inc. said Friday that it
has applied to market the same active ingredient used in the erectile
dysfunction pill as a treatment for a rare but life-threatening
vascular condition found mostly in women.
The product would have a new brand name -- Revatio -- and would come in different dosages as well as a color and shape distinct from the blue diamond made famous by Viagra.
Also called high blood pressure of the lungs, pulmonary arterial hypertension forces the heart to work harder to pump blood, and can result in heart failure.
Viagra interacts with receptors
that affect blood flow to the penis but also are linked to blood
flow in the lungs and other parts of the body, a Pfizer spokesman
said.
About 100,000 people in North America and Europe have pulmonary arterial hypertension, according to Pfizer, most of them women between the ages of 21 and 50.
"PAH is a condition for which new treatment options are desperately needed," Dr. Joseph Feczko, Pfizer's president of worldwide development, said in a statement.
In studies, patients on sildenafil -- the active ingredient in Viagra -- demonstrated improvement by walking farther than those on a placebo, Pfizer said.
Pfizer noted the new use for Viagra to Wall Street this week during its review of its research and development pipeline.
Barbara Ryan, an analyst with Deutsche Bank, told investors in a note that the new use would represent a "limited market opportunity" given the small number of patients. Ryan also said pulmonary specialists already appeared to be prescribing Viagra "off-label" for the condition.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule on the application next year.
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PFE, DB, DBK,
Source: The Record - Hackensack, New Jersey
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