Entries Tagged 'Viagra Soft' ↓

By Linda Deutsch

LOS ANGELES (AP) - From the moment he saw actress Lana Clarkson's dead body slumped in a chair in Phil Spector's mansion, a gun at her feet and blood soaking her short black dress, the lead investigator sensed "sexual overtones," he testified Wednesday. Detective Mark Lillienfeld testified in Spector's murder trial that when he found a Viagra pill (Sildenafil Citrate) in the music producer's briefcase, it intensified his belief, and he seized it as evidence.

"I thought at that time, as I do today, that this murder had sexual overtones to it, and that the Viagra would prove or disprove certain facts," the detective said. Continue reading →

US states have been told they do not have to pay to provide the impotence drug Viagra to convicted sex offenders.

The move comes after an audit found 198 convicts in New York state had been reimbursed by Medicaid for the drug between January and March 2000.

Their crimes included offences against children as young as two.

The Medicaid programme, whose cost is shared by states and the federal government, provides health care for the poor.

The federal Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services said they should not pay for erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders.

Spokesman Gary Karr said "states already have the power to determine if a drug is not medically appropriate for a certain patient or certain class of patients", the Associated Press news agency reported.

Public risk

The New York audit, conducted by Comptroller Alan Hevesi, did not cover other states, but Mr Hevesi said states are required by law to include Viagra in Medicaid programmes covering prescription drugs when medically necessary.

He said the policy raised "serious policy considerations and has the potential to place the public at risk" and asked the government to take administrative action or amend the Medicaid law.

On Monday, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said that Medicaid had paid $93,000 to provide Viagra to 218 sex offenders in that state over the last four years, AP reported.

New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton have both indicated they back a change in policy.

Sen Schumer said: "It is just mind-boggling to think that Level 3 sexual offenders can get Viagra, which may indeed help them perpetrate other horrible crimes.

"Giving convicted sex offenders government-funded Viagra is like giving convicted murderers an assault rifle when they get out of jail," Schumer said.

Originaly from Source

The rise and rise of Viagra has created a 1.5bn worldwide market in anti-impotence pills.

Now rivals are fighting for a share of the spoils and it is becoming a recreational drug of choice for some in the party generation.

Last week, Pfizer's chief executive Henry McKinnell warned that Chinese made counterfeits posed a threat to its business and urged the country's authorities to clamp down on the copycats.

New research

Pfizer, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, stumbled on the drug by accident at their research labs in Sandwich, Kent.

In the late 1980s, they had been developing a new treatment for angina, but noticed a strange side-effect in trials - increased erections among volunteers.

The effect on their sex lives was so marked that once the angina trails were over the volunteers wanted to keep on taking the medication.

Pfizer decided to commission some new research.

In 1989 they approached Clive Gingell, one of Britain's top Urological Surgeons, based in Bristol.

He had spent his whole career trying to treat and improve the lives of thousands of men suffering from impotence.

In those days, commonly used treatments included the fitting of implants directly into the penis, a vacuum pump and self injection.

Most sufferers were thoroughly put off and consigned themselves to a life without sex.

Viagra arrives

Mr Gingell ran a new series of trials, and the results impressed him.

Pfizer chief executive McKinnell says copycats pose a threat

He describes Viagra as "a wonder drug".

"The thought of having a pill that would cure impotence was amazing to me," he says.

"I never thought I would see it in my lifetime."

"There has been a kind of Holy Grail idea associated with curing impotence," Pfizer's Mariann Caprino tells the Money Programme.

"And here it was in a little blue pill."

Colossal market

When Viagra was launched in 1998, Pfizer's share price doubled. It was apparent that there was a huge previously untapped market out there.

Doctors claim that half of all men over 40 become impotent at some point in their lives.

That is more than 150 million worldwide, with two million sufferers in Britain alone, so the potential market for drugs like Viagra is colossal.

Overnight Viagra made Pfizer famous. "We discovered the mass production of penicillin, yet it was Viagra that put Pfizer on the map," says Ms Caprino.

Embarrassing subject

Nevertheless, despite the highly successful launch, the company faced a huge potential problem in selling Viagra.

Men were simply not willing to talk about impotence, they were ashamed.

If they were not prepared to discuss their impotence, how could they be persuaded to ask their doctor for a prescription?

Ray Reynolds, who suffered from impotence for 30 years, had simply given up hope of ever being able to have sex again.

"I thought well, I'll just put it to one side and remain a eunuch for the rest of my life," he says.

Celebrity endorsement

To overcome the problem, Pfizer came up with a series of marketing ploys.

Pfizer sponsors NASCAR, America's top spectator sport

Firstly, they asked the Vatican, and other world religious leaders, for their blessing. This headed off possible moral and religious objections.

Secondly, they employed big name celebrities to encourage men to seek treatment for impotence.

Pele, the legendary footballer, headed a men's health campaign about erection problems, and 75 year old former US Presidential candidate Bob Dole went public for Pfizer about his own impotence problem.

American men rushed to their doctors.

Leon Steinberg, an 84-year-old impotence sufferer living in a retirement community in Florida, was impressed by Mr Dole's courage in coming forward.

"When I saw it on TV, I admired him for it," he says.

"You might say he was my idol."

Withdrawal of campaign

Pfizer decided not to use the term "impotence" in the advertisements, instead replacing it with a more bland technical term "erectile dysfunction".

Pfizer's Mike Suesserman says the new term "allowed us to make the condition a household name".

Pfizer reasoned that few men may admit to impotence, which employs a complete loss of ability, but a lot more may own up to erectile dysfunction, which suggests a much broader range of symptoms.

But Pfizer's aggressive marketing campaign has recently run into trouble.

A recent television advertisement has been criticized in the United States for suggesting that Viagra might be better and more effective for patients than the clinical experience suggests.

The Food and Drug Administration ordered its withdrawal.

Efficient sex

There are potential problems, too, in the increasing use of Viagra as a recreational drug.

Half of all men over 40 become impotent at some point

"For a lot of gay people it is just a normal way of life," says Gary Mercado, who runs the Elysium Resort, the largest gay hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

When Viagra is taken with amphetamines, "you forget about having protective sex, so there are huge capabilities of transmitting all sorts of sexual diseases", he says.

Pfizer says that a very small percentage of people abuse Viagra, but accepts there is great potential in developing the market for sexual pharmaceuticals.

Meika Loe, author of the book The Rise of Viagra, agrees: "In the Viagra era, sexuality is subject to the cult of efficiency. It's become almost McDonald's-ised. Serve it up fast and hot."

The Money Programme: Viagra: The Hard Sell was broadcast at 2200 GMT on Wednesday, 9 February on BBC Two .

Originaly from Source

A cafe on the island of Sao Tome off Africa's west coast relies on its famed aphrodisiac cocktail to pull in punters during the festive season.

A large glass bottle containing a mysterious brown liquid labelled "Pilolo Atomico" - which means Atomic Penis - occupies a prime position on the bar.

"It's so popular, even the president talks about it," says Maria-Joao Pombo, the owner of Cafe and Companhia (Cafe and Company).

"Pilolo Atomico is made up of a mixture of a local brandy and several tree barks," she says.

"We also flavour it with things like cinnamon because it is very bitter. Here in Sao Tome, they say it's an aphrodisiac."

Herbal remedy

Ms Pombo, who moved to the island five years ago, has been selling the cocktail for about a year and a half.

She decided to go commercial after hearing about the local erotic concoction.

"I knew people here eat the bark of plants like Pao tree; washing it down with what they call a 'hot (alcoholic) drink'.

"So I decided to combine the ingredients and bottle it," she says.

Traditionally, however, the drink was not only used to enhance sexual potency.

People ate the tree bark to cure stomach pains and hernias. It also gave them the strength to walk for miles without food or drink.

Sceptics

And Pilolo Atomico is not its original name either, this was cooked up by some of Ms Pombo's friends while sitting at the bar.

"I knew the name sounded very suggestive but I didn't know exactly what "pilolo" meant," she explains.

"Once the drink started becoming more popular, I decided to register the name and the product.

"But they wouldn't let me. That is when I found out that "pilolo" means penis."

Sceptics say the cocktail's popularity is just down to its name, but some cafe regulars swear by it.

"When I drink just one glass of pilolo, I feel strong for 12 hours. Believe me, it really does work," says Miguel.

"You just have to make sure you have a beautiful woman with you," he adds.

Women also seemed to appreciate its aphrodisiacal effects.

"It's fantastic, much better than the blue pill," says Alexia, referring to the impotency drug Viagra.

Others say the cocktail is an acquired taste.

"It tastes foul," says Bibi.

But effective or not, safe sex is the message - every Pilolo Atomico comes with a free condom.

Originaly from Source