When was viagra marketed

As hard as it may be to believe with 18 years of hindsight, Viagra was a tough sell for the physician audience. Yes, it had sexuality as part of its brand promise, but it was designed to treat a physical condition that many doctors believed was in no small part psychological in nature. That hesitancy had to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Maybe the language choice gave them a little more of an opening. It ushered in the era of the celebrity spokesperson. But when he appeared in a Viagra commercial in , he revolutionized the way such personalities participated in pharma campaigns — and in doing so, encouraged pharma to aim higher in its pursuit of celebrity endorsers and advocates.

It was a very purposeful choice. He wears the traditional uniform of dark suit and red power tie; the background music could well have been lifted from a military procession. See also: 50 celebrity healthcare endorsements. This became the blueprint for all celeb campaigns that followed: Find a celebrity who has been directly affected by a disease or condition Dole was in the wake of his treatment for prostate cancer , then let him or her testify.

It worked. As one of the architects of the initial Viagra media push, Stockman remembers the months before and after launch as somewhat of a blur. She and other members of the Viagra media team spent much of it in an ad hoc war room at Pfizer headquarters on East 42nd St.

The experience left enough of an impression that she can still reel stats off the top of her head: two billion impressions within a month and million audience impressions within 48 hours of FDA approval. Did she have any idea that Viagra would prove so irresistible to the media?

Stockman laughs. Visibility was never a concern. Their counsel, particularly as it pertained to the underexplained medical and psychological impact of ED, proved invaluable. Introduction of low-price generic sildenafil and removal of prescribing restrictions led to a steep rise in the number of prescription items dispensed in England, from 1.

Branded tadalafil, vardenafil and avanafil, and Viagra, continue to be restricted on the NHS, so as prescriptions for sildenafil rose, those for tadalafil and vardenafil began to fall. Avanafil — : 6, PDE5 inhibitors work by increasing blood flow to the penis during sexual stimulation.

Although all PDE5 inhibitors are effective, there are differences in their onset and duration of action. For example, direct-to-consumer men's health brand Roman is removing middlemen such as drugstores and allowing customers to buy ED meds online. The proliferation of virtual platforms may be leading to an increase in purchasing medications online, said Dr.

Anupam B. Jena, an economist and physician at Harvard Medical School. Skip Navigation. Key Points. Pfizer holds a lead in the erectile dysfunction market even as generics erode sales of its once-blockbuster male libido treatment, Viagra. Pfizer has been able to maintain a significant share in the erectile dysfunction market thanks in part to launching its own generic version of the blue, diamond-shaped pill.