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Year
2007 |
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Archives
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FREEBIES SAP VIAGRA SALES
By RICHARD WILNER
12 January 2005
Makers of Viagra and other
erectile dysfunction
drugs saw sales gains soften last year as more and more American
men discovered they can solve their problem by using the free samples
handed out by their doctors.
That's right, men want the thrill but not the bill.
Sales of Pfizer's Viagra, Eli Lilly's
Cialis and GlaxoSmithKline's Levitra
in 2004 were just over $1 billion, flat compared to 2003, according
to industry estimates.
It is the first time annual sales gains in the erectile
dysfunction, or ED, category have petered out in the seven years
since Viagra burst upon the market.
This is troubling for drug makers because:
* With just seven million of the estimated 30 million American men suffering from ED having been treated, there was still much virgin territory to cover;
* Marketing money swelled last year by about $275 million after
Levitra joined the fray in August
2003 and Cialis appeared three months
later; and
* Office visits by men with ED have risen 64 percent over the past 16 months, according to Glaxo.
But the companies didn't count on men using the free samples and not moving on to prescriptions.
In fact, sampling is it; more than half of the Viagra, Cialis and Levitra taken during the first six months of 2004 — roughly 54 percent — are freebies, a Glaxo executive told The Wall Street Journal.
source:-http://www.nypost.com
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