Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Viagra Could Get Some Very Tough Competition

Aired July 08, 2002 - 08:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The blockbuster impotence drug Viagra could get some very tough competition soon. Here with a look at the upcoming Viagra rivals is medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She joins us now from Atlanta with today's "House Call."

Is it some bad joke, it's two women talking about Viagra here, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, what were they thinking? I know, it is like a bad joke, not that we need it, Paula, or anybody in our lives, but we'll talk about this new drug that may be coming out.

As we said earlier in the show, Viagra does not work for about one third of men who take it. Viagra came out four years ago, and now a new drug may be coming out from Bayer called Nuviva. In the next week or two, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision about whether or not this drug can go on the market.

Now hundreds of men have taken this drug. Let's take a look at what the clinical trials showed. They showed that before treatment, before the men took Nuviva, 25 percent of the attempts intercourse were successful.

Now how does the drug work? Well, in a way, it works very similar to Viagra. It increases blood flow to the genitals. However, biochemically, it does work a little bit differently, and so let's take a look at how the two drugs compare to one another. When men take Viagra, it takes up to an hour for it work. In other words, they take the drug, they have to wait an hour for the drug to take effect.

However, when men take Nuviva, it only takes 40 minutes to work, so there's a little bit of a difference there. And then once the drug does work, Viagra works for 12 hours, Nuviva works for 15 to 18 hours. I think that requires a little bit of explanation here. That doesn't mean, obviously, that men are walking around with erections for 15 to 18 hours. What it means is that for those 15 and 18 hours, with sexual stimulation, they would have the ability to achieve erections.

Again, the FDA is expected to rule on this new drug in the next week or two. It doesn't mean that Viagra will -- obviously, it doesn't mean that Viagra will go away. It just means that impotence will probably become something like let's say high blood pressure or depression, where there will be more than one drug out there and different drugs will work for different men -- Paula.

ZAHN: What about the side effects associated with both drugs?

COHEN: Because the drugs are similar, they also have similar side effects -- headaches, stuffy nose, facial flushing, that kind of thing. Also, men who take nitrates, which is a form of a heart medication, should not take either drug.

Also, there's an interesting side effect that's not really a side effect of the drug per say, but really a side effect of sex. But some men who haven't had sex in years and years take these drugs, have sex, and then have a heart attack just because they're hearts weren't really up to the task of sex physically. And so for both of these drugs, men who have weak hearts need to be careful.

ZAHN: Isn't there a third drug they're also looking at pretty seriously?

COHEN: There's another drug that the FDA has reviewed. It's called Tiallis (ph), and actually that one, somebody called that one Viagra on steroids. That one works for three days. You take it once, and it works for three days.

However, the FDA has some safety concerns about this drug, and so they've asked the company to do some more work on it.

ZAHN: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: All right, thanks, Paula.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com