Govt eases market limits on anti-impotence drug Viagra

JAKARTA (JP): The government has eased market restrictions on the often-touted wonder drug Viagra, allowing high dosage 100- milligram pills to be sold with a prescription.

The Director General of Food and Medicine Control, Sampurno, said on Wednesday that after monitoring the sale of the drug here for the past five months, his office had found only negligible side effects.

"This month we have agreed to legalize the sale of 100- milligram pills. To buy the pill, people will only need a prescription and the pharmacist is no longer required to report the name of the consumer to the local health ministry's office," Sampurno said.

Following months of public debate, the government allowed PT Pfizer Indonesia Tbk to market medium dosage 50-milligram Viagra pills in August. Only authorized specialists could prescribe the drug.

But even with the presence of strict government regulations, people still easily obtained the pill.

Sampurno said Viagra was useless for people with no erectile dysfunction, adding that the drug should not be used by people suffering from heart disease and hypertension.

"In healthy people the negative side effects for those using the pill is a prolonged erection, which could last up to five hours," he added.

"I hope with the legalization of the sale of the drug we can minimize the illegal market. I believe people will prefer to buy from pharmacists because the price will be cheaper than on the black market," he added.

The marketing manager of PT Pfizer Indonesia Tbk, Supinaryo, welcomed the government's decision.

"Now we can let the public choose between using the smuggled pills or those being sold in pharmacies," he said.

The sale of Viagra in the past last five months here has not been as high as initially expected.

"Sales have been below target, but we feel this is because of the presence of the black market," Supinaryo told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Sampurno, however, contended that the small number of sales was due to the fact that "the number of people with erectile dysfunction in the country is not much, and once again healthy people do not need Viagra". (04)