Man ‘supplied Viagra from home’

A Dublin man has appeared in court accused of supplying Viagra from his home by mail order.

Marc Kelly, with an address at St John’s Avenue, Clondalkin, is accused of breaking medicinal products regulations.

He is facing prosecution following a probe by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), which had him summonsed to appear at Dublin District Court yesterday.

It is alleged that on Jul 21, 2011, at his home address, he imported Valium into the State without authorisation and unlawfully kept for supply a medicinal product named Cialis, which contains the prescription-only active ingredient sildenafil citrate.

The IMB also alleges that on and around the same date he had imported and had for supply Viagra, another more well-known drug used to treat men with erectile dysfunction and which also contains sildenafil citrate.

Sildenafil is confined to prescription control and requires advice of a medical practitioner.

It can cause serious side effects for people suffering from heart problems and can also result in headaches, stomachaches and visual problems.

He also faces a charge for issuing an advertisement for a medicine named Xenical, another prescription-only drug used in weight loss treatment, on Apr 8, 2011.

He is further accused that being a person not entitled to do so did “supply by mail order Viagra”, also on Apr 8, 2011.

His barrister Rory Staines told Judge John Coughlan yesterday some items of disclosure from the IMB had yet to be received and he asked for the case to be put back for mention on a later date.

The judge agreed to grant the adjournment and ordered Mr Kelly to appear again in September.