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NEW YORK - The AIDS Healthcare Foundation banned all Pfizer drug reps from its 14 clinic facilities on Thursday because it believes Pfizer is promoting Viagra in a way that encourages irresponsible use of the drug among crystal meth users.
About 60 or so doctors will now be inaccessible to reps who want to promote any of Pfizer’s products, including blockbusters Lipitor and Celebrex, according to Foundation representative Ged Kenslea.
Crystal meth is a highly addictive illegal drug with speed-like qualities that drastically reduces the inhibitions of its users. Male meth users are rendered impotent by the drug even though their sexual desire is heightened. A combination of Viagra, meth, and lowered inhibition makes users more likely to place themselves in situations where they may contract HIV, the foundation believes.
The foundation in January filed a lawsuit against Pfizer in California state court alleging Pfizer has marketed Viagra in a “misleading” manner. Pfizer’s ads do not tout Viagra as a solution to the medical condition of erectile dysfunction, the suit claims, but rather as an enhancement to recreational sex.
For example, the suit claims, the Viagra Web site states, “Want to improve your sex life?” and urges readers to “Have the best experience,” according to the suit.
The foundation alleges that Pfizer has essentially stopped marketing Viagra for a legitimate medical condition suffered by older males and is actively promoting it to “normal healthy men” of younger ages for recreational reasons or for any occasion in which a man cannot achieve an erection—such as drug use or fatigue.
The foundation was particularly irked by a Viagra print ad run in late 2004, in which it claims the headline was, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?”
Said Kenslea: “Do you happen to have a medical condition erupt on New Year’s Eve? That’s not a help-seeking ad.”
The foundation claims that 32% of gay men with a median age of 32 have used Viagra; that 36% of gay Viagra users have combined it with illegal drugs; and that in “repeat HIV testers” Viagra users are more than twice as likely to test positive for HIV.
“Pfizer’s labeling does not warn of these risks,” the suit says.
Pfizer did not respond to an offer of comment by press time. Previously, the company has stated that it "has always been committed to safe and appropriate use of Viagra" and that the drug's label states, "Viagra does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV."
Kenslea said Pfizer would not have been targeted if it had responded when the Foundation first began urging Pfizer to change its advertising a year ago. Eli Lilly’s Cialis and Bayer/GSK/Schering-Plough’s Levitra have not been targeted because those companies still market their pills as medical treatments, Kenslea said.
Pfizer’s Viagra marketing continues to be successful. The company’s fourth quarter 2006 statement shows that global Viagra revenue was up 5% to $450 million. It was up by the same proportion to $222 million in the U.S. alone, the company said.
from Brand Week
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS healthcare, education and prevention and direct provider of HIV/AIDS medical care to tens of thousands of AIDS patients in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, launches a print advertising campaign this week calling on Pfizer, Inc., the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, to end its marketing of its erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra, as a sexual enhancement drug, thereby encouraging its recreational use and fueling the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
The first wave of the Viagra + Meth = Rx for HIV Infection ad campaign begins in New York this week with full-page ads in both The Village Voice and The New York Blade and will launch next week in Los Angeles with an ad appearing in Frontiers Magazine. The ads alert the public to the dangers of combining Viagra with crystal methamphetamines (an illegal drug, also know as crystal meth) and urges the pharmaceutical giant “to exercise responsibility by discontinuing marketing to men with mild erectile dysfunction, and by initiating an educational campaign on the dangers of Viagra and crystal meth, targeting men who have sex with men.”
“Pfizer’s direct to consumer marketing of Viagra as a drug to enhance sexual performance aimed at men who don’t necessarily suffer from erectile dysfunction is irresponsible, especially in light of the drug’s known use as part of a ‘circuit party cocktail’ that is fueling the spread of STDs and HIV,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “By marketing Viagra to men with ‘mild’ erectile dysfunction, for men with ‘all degrees of ED, even if it only happens once in a while’ or as a way to ‘improve your sex life’ (as shown in the ad to the right)—as many of the ads state—Pfizer is selling the drug as a way to enhance sexual experience, not as a treatment for an illness. We urge Pfizer to not only end this dangerous marketing tactic, but also to fund a national educational campaign on the dangers of Viagra and crystal meth in order to mitigate the negative impact its advertising continues to have.
”Crystal meth, like many club drugs, is a type of “speed” that keeps the body feeling energetic and hypersexual. Because of the heightened sex drive and feelings of invincibility that crystal meth causes in users, the potential for unprotected sex, and HIV infection, increases dramatically. One of the side effects of crystal meth is that while it increases libido, it also causes impotence, causing many to use erectile dysfunction drugs, like Viagra, to obtain an erection.
Numerous studies linking the use of Viagra—both independently and when used in combination with crystal meth—to an increased risk for STDs and HIV infection, particularly among men who have sex with men, prompted AHF to create the Viagra + Meth = Rx for HIV Infection campaign. A study published in the May 26, 2005 edition of The American Journal of Medicine (Volume 118, No.6) called Sildenafil use, sexual risk behavior, and risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection (authored by Sean G. Swearingen, BA, Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH and funded by the STD Prevention and Control Services, San Francisco Department of Public Health) analyzed data from fourteen studies related to Viagra use (clinical name: sildenafil). The conclusion: “Most studies reported frequent sildenafil use in men who have sex with men, and several showed independent associations between use of the drug and sexual risk behavior, as well as an increased risk for STDs, including HIV infection.
”Among the study’s findings: a study of men who have sex with men in San Francisco showed that 36% of all Viagra users combined its use with other drugs including meth; five studies of men who have sex with men found an increase in unprotected anal sex with a partner of unknown or serodiscordant HIV-status among Viagra users, with users between twice as likely to almost six times as likely to engage in this risk behavior.
“As a physician, I am troubled by the increase in the use of drugs like Viagra in combination with illegal substances like meth and poppers among the patients I see,” added Homayoon Khanlou, MD, Associate Director of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “The trend is particularly disturbing when you can consider how easy it is to obtain Viagra without a prescription and how many people are using the drug outside of medical supervision.”
This latest campaign continues AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s advocacy around the issue of Pfizer’s direct-to-consumer advertising of Viagra. Earlier this year, AHF criticized Pfizer for running a holiday-themed print ad campaign that AHF believed promoted unsafe sex by encouraging the recreational use of Viagra on holidays such as New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl. The ads, seen in The Wall Street Journal and The L.A. Daily News, among other publications, depicted a handsome, forty-ish male grinning knowingly at the camera with taglines, such as “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” and “Be this Sunday’s MVP.” Pfizer continued this irresponsible advertising campaign despite having been forced by the U.S. Food and Drug administration to withdraw previous ads, which inferred that men could re-capture their youthful vigor and become a “wild thing” by taking Viagra.
from Aids Healthcare Foundation
