Viagra faces rise of rival

VIAGRA sales are facing strong competition from longer-lasting Cialis as the rival impotence drugs go head to head for dominance of the multi-billion euro market worldwide.

Viagra has already been overtaken by Cialis in South Africa with Lilly claiming 45% of the €70 million rand market on one of the most competitive markets for impotence treatments in the world.

Sales of Viagra, the world’s best-selling male impotence drug, fell in each of the five months since Eli Lilly and Icos unveiled their longer-lasting Cialis pill.

US prescriptions of Viagra declined about 9.1% in April from a year ago, after dropping 4.6% in the first three months of 2004.

Pfizer said on April 20 that US sales of Viagra fell 25% to $220m million in the first quarter.

Cialis, already given the soubriquet “le weekend’ in France, and its popularity is surging because it lasts 36 hours, compared with about four hours for Viagra.

Viagra, introduced in 1998, accounts for about 78% of US prescriptions for erectile dysfunction and generates about 4.2% of Pfizer’s $45.2 billion in annual sales.

The active ingredient for the drug is manufactured in Ringaskiddy, County Cork.

Pfizer is not taking the competition lying down and has introduced a frequent user sales campaign in the US which has not been introduced in Ireland.

Additional reporting Bloomberg.