Viagra loyalty scheme by Pfizer

PFIZER is introducing a buy-six Viagra get-one-free sales pitch as the innovative impotence drug faces up to strong competition from new rivals Levitra and Cialis.

Yesterday, in the US, Pfizer launched a sales programme called The Value Card for Viagra. The programme offers men a convenient way to get a free Viagra prescription every time they fill six eligible prescriptions. Pfizer in Ireland did not respond to questions about the availability of the special offer in this country.

For most of the six years since its launch, Viagra had the field to itself, but GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer began selling their impotence pill, Levitra, in the US last summer. A few months later Cialis was rolled out by a joint venture of Eli Lilly & Co and Icos Corp.

Cialis, which lasts several times longer than Levitra or Viagra, has been gaining market share against Viagra. The active ingredient for Viagra is manufactured in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

In recent months, Pfizer rivals have gone further with marketing campaigns that make it easy for consumers to try the new medicines at little or no cost.

In a press release, the US marketing director for Viagra at Pfizer Janice Lipsky said: “this is like a frequent-flier programme, where we are building a relationship with our patients for the long term.”

She says the company tested the idea with patients and received an overwhelmingly positive response.

For the first two months of 2004, US sales of Viagra totaled $177 million, according to data from NDCHealth, Atlanta. Levitra brought in $19m and Cialis $12m in the same period.