Valentine's Viagra

According to a report in today's Guardian, Viagra is going to be available without a prescription at three London pharmacists in a test that coincides with both Valentine's Day and "National Impotence Day" (be sure not to get those greeting cards mixed up in the envelopes!)

From the article:

Customers will have to reveal their medical history to a pharmacist, and have their blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels tested, before they can purchase the packet of four diamond-shaped blue tablets for £50.

This is happening on the heels of reports that Pfizer was considering an over the counter form of Vigara for the U.S.

While making Viagra available without a prescription will no doubt be a lovely Valentine's Day gift for Pfizer shareholders men living with erectile dysfunction, the fact that it's happening even as a pilot project has to rank high in the annals of ridiculous and arbitrary health decisions.

Consider the fact that it took years for Plan B (Emergency Contraception, also called the morning after pill) to become available without a prescription and even now it is only available to women over sixteen. This is a medication that has been proven effective and safe, and was unanimously approved for over the counter status by an FDA scientific advisory committee. Yet politics (and religion) prevented Plan B from getting proper over the counter clearance.

On the other hand you have Viagra, a drug that has been found to have serious side effects for some people, and is used to treat a condition (erectile dysfunction) that is not fully understood but considered to have multiple precipitating factors; both physical and psychological. In other words it’s a medication for a treatment that needs to be carefully diagnosed. Yet we're going to give men the opportunity to bypass a doctor and get the drug without a prescription, simultaneously "saving" them the embarrassment of speaking with a doctor, and putting them at greater risk (because they'll never be properly diagnosed, and they may take the medication when they should not for health reasons.

Read more - The Guardian: Viagra available on high street without prescription in trial run