Fake Viagra not the way to a good time<\/p>\n
A little diamond-shaped blue pill has brought a new lease on
\nlife for many men -- and their partners -- since it was launched
\ntwo years ago. But Viagra's phenomenal success in treating
\nerectile dysfunction has inevitably drawn con artists who are
\ntouting fake products as aphrodisiacs on Jakarta's streets. The
\nJakarta Post's Bruce Emond and Maria Endah
\nHulupi look at the business of selling a good time.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As the setting sun basks the city in a
\nflickering glow, droves of medicine hawkers emerge from their
\ndaytime cocoons to set up shop for a busy night ahead.<\/p>\n
They park their loaded pushcarts at distances of a few meters
\nfrom each other in areas such as Bendungan Hilir, Jl. Pramuka and
\nSenen, Central Jakarta, Jatinegara market, East Jakarta, and Daan
\nMogot, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
But their happiest hunting ground is in the entertainment belt
\nof Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk in the city's Chinatown.
\nThe area's discos, nightclubs, restaurants and hotels pulsate
\nwith life until the sun comes up.<\/p>\n
All that partying can take its toll, and the medicine hawkers
\nare at the ready with over-the-counter and prescription drugs,
\ntoiletries and condoms.<\/p>\n
For those who need some oomph after a long night of living it
\nup, there are also aphrodisiacs.<\/p>\n
And the big seller these days is Viagra -- or what passes for
\nit.<\/p>\n
\"Aris,\" who operates outside a high school in the area, offers
\na whole range of \"Viagra\" products, from pills to capsules to
\nsprays.<\/p>\n
\"This is the best grade and costs Rp 135,000 each,\" he said as
\nhe took a grayish-blue tablet out of a box. The \"second\" grade,
\nwhich he got from another vendor, was placed in a small blue-and-
\nwhite box marked Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, with a
\nhologram and batch number on the cover.<\/p>\n
Cheapest of all are his capsules, with a box of six selling
\nfor Rp 25,000, and spray oil for Rp 40,000. Their crude
\npackaging, the garbled English of their pamphlets and the
\ninclusion of a pornographic game card were enough to give them
\naway as fakes.<\/p>\n
Aris said the products were supplied by a dealer who was on
\n\"standby\" in the area during the night for whenever the hawkers
\nran out of the drugs.<\/p>\n
Despite the higher price, the \"top grade\" pills, Aris said,
\nwere the best seller among his customers, who he described as
\nwell-off \"working people\".<\/p>\n
Genuine<\/p>\n
To the layperson, it would be hard to tell the difference
\nbetween the blue-and-white Viagra packaging sold by Aris and the
\ngenuine article.<\/p>\n
But Shanti Shamdasani, senior public affairs manager for PT
\nPfizer Indonesia, has seen it all before: The \"Pfizer\" in the
\nhologram is slightly the wrong shape, the bar code is upside down
\nand the Viagra logo is missing.<\/p>\n
The \"top grade\" pill, tested in the company's laboratory in
\nBogor, turned out to contain about 60 percent sildenafil citrate,
\nthe active ingredient in Viagra (the inside of a genuine Viagra
\npill is white, while a fake pill is usually blue).<\/p>\n
There was no reason to take a second look at the capsules and
\nspray oil, because Viagra is only produced in pill form. The
\ncapsule contained a brownish powder which the lab was unable to
\nidentify.<\/p>\n
\"In the past we've found capsules containing vitamin B and
\nothers filled with Johnson's baby powder, which obviously people
\nshould not be ingesting,\" Shanti said.<\/p>\n
Yet it is little wonder that Viagra, which costs about Rp
\n95,000 per 100 mg pill at pharmacies, is a prime target for
\ncounterfeiters.<\/p>\n
The Index of Medical Specialties, a medical consultancy on the
\npharmaceutical industry in the country, reports it is now the
\nmost commonly prescribed drug in Indonesia for erectile
\ndysfunction, used in treating men with causes either
\nphysiological, such as constricted blood flow to the genitals
\nfrom diabetes, hypertension or other conditions, or
\npsychological, such as depression.<\/p>\n
What concerns Pfizer is how the drug has become considered a
\nmiraculous cure-all for whatever ails you in the bedroom -- and a
\nparty drug to put someone in the mood.<\/p>\n
With an explosion in illegal drug use in the 1990s combined
\nwith the traditional practice of self-medication and using
\naphrodisiacs, such as jamu (herbal concoctions), and poor
\nconsumer education, the country has proved a fertile ground for
\nthe proliferation of fake Viagra, as well as the genuine product
\nbeing sold illegally on the black market. Apart from street
\nhawkers, they are reportedly being offered in bars, discos,
\ncafes, fitness centers, even on golf courses for men at the end
\nof a round on the links.<\/p>\n
\"We've even heard of salesgirls going around the city offering
\nit to men, and of executives bidding on a tender who offer a
\nViagra and a woman to officials making the decision,\" Shanti
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
When the drug is advertised, either directly or through
\neuphemistic terms of \"the magic blue pill\" and \"V\", the firm
\ntakes the action of formally informing the media involved that
\nViagra is only available by prescription and that its
\nadvertisement is thus illegal.<\/p>\n
But Shanti acknowledged the firm had limited success working
\nwith the police in stopping the sale of fake Viagra, most of
\nwhich is believed to originate in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Now Pfizer is taking its message to the public, including
\nthrough seminars, as it tries to educate people that consuming
\nfake Viagra has the potential to hurt their health and
\npocketbook.<\/p>\n
\"Viagra is not an aphrodisiac, and it won't work on systems
\nthat don't need it. And we're concerned that people will become
\nill from using the fake drugs, which will mean they are spending
\nmoney on something they don't need -- and then will have to spend
\nmore on their recovery.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/fake-viagra-not-the-way-to-a-good-time-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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