DANIEL S. LEVINE
The Burrill Report?we?ve seen how fake pharmacy websites can lure consumers into buying counterfeit medicines with what seems to be an easy purchasing experience, but it may be putting their health at risk.?
Viagra, Pfizer?s little blue pill for erectile dysfunction, has long been sold over the Internet, or at least look-alike pills claiming to be Viagra. In a join-them-to-beat-them strategy, Pfizer is striking back at counterfeiters who sell over the web by launching Viagra.com to give men who prefer to buy the drug online a trusted source.
Pfizer isn?t trying to cut out pharmacies in the process. Fulfillment of prescriptions through its website for what it calls its more counterfeited medicines is being handled by CVS/pharmacy?s mail order service. As few as 3 percent of websites selling prescription drugs are legitimate pharmacies and up to half offer foreign drugs not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
?Through our ongoing analyses, we?ve seen how fake pharmacy websites can lure consumers into buying counterfeit medicines with what seems to be an easy purchasing experience, but it may be putting their health at risk,? says Carmen Catizone, executive director of the association. ?We?re pleased to see companies collaborating to develop and support solutions that will help patients obtain legitimate prescription medications online.?
Though Viagra buyers may prefer the anonymity of shopping online if they are embarrassed to walk into a pharmacy to fill a prescription for the drug, they may also prefer the cost savings they find online. The average price for Viagra is $22 a pill, according to press reports, but it can be found online for a fraction of that price depending on the dose and the number of pills.
The problem for buyers is they may not know what?s in the little blue pill that arrives at their door. In 2011, Pfizer evaluated 22 websites appearing in the top search results for the phrase ?buy Viagra,? placed orders for pills advertised as Pfizer?s Viagra, and performed chemical analyses of them. The company found that about 80 percent of these pills were counterfeit. While the fake Viagra pills did contain the active ingredient, sildenafil citrate, the amount was 30 percent to 50 percent of what was advertised.
?There are almost 24 million searches a year for Viagra online,? says Victor Clavelli, senior director, marketing group leader, Pfizer?s Primary Care Business Unit. ?By offering men with ED convenient access and a legitimate alternative to purchase Viagra online, our hope is that Pfizer will help rein in the distribution of fake ED products.?
May 10, 2013
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-already_an_internet_favorite_pfizer_takes_viagra_sales_online.html
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