Sex pill boost for drug company

Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline was given a lift today with the news that US regulators have approved Levitra – its answer to erectile dysfunction tablet Viagra.

The sex drug, which has already been approved in more than 50 countries, is expected to be available in pharmacies across the US within the next few weeks.

As a direct challenge to Pfizer’s Viagra, Glaxo’s product gives American men the first alternative in five years to the blue diamond-shaped pill.

The US is regarded as key to Levitra’s success because it is the world’s biggest pharmaceuticals market.

Glaxo admitted in July that sales in Europe, where Levitra was launched in March, had been “pretty low” so far. The drug also competes in Europe with Eli Lily’s Cialis impotence treatment.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, US pharmaceuticals president Chris Viehbacher said Glaxo was delighted with the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval and would be educating men and their doctors about its potential use.

Levitra was co-developed and co-promoted with German drugs firm Bayer.

Industry studies have estimated that some degree of impotence affects more than half of all men aged over 40 and that around 152 million men around the world suffer from the problem.

Glaxo is hoping that the increased use of so-called “lifestyle” drugs such as Levitra can help it to boost sales at a time when the group is under attack from cheaper copycat versions of its best-selling treatments.

The firm’s other products include antibiotic Augmentin, asthma drug Advair and anti-depressant Paxil.

Pfizer has already filed a US law suit alleging that one of its patents would be infringed by the sale of Levitra but the case remains in its early stages.

Glaxo made British corporate history in May when shareholders, angry at a lucrative “golden parachute” deal for chief executive Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier, voted down the company’s remuneration report at its annual meeting.

Shares rose 7p to 1247p in early trading today.