The news today that Viagra may cause blindness in a small number of users has had the expected negative impact on the share price of the ED drug’s maker, Pfizer. This will be short-lived — unless of course the class action lawyers smell blood (excuse the pun). Without second guessing the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer appears to be working aggresively and responsibly with the FDA to put Viagra’s surprising possible new side effect into perspective.
(However, as of this writing, I don’t see the statement on the company’s home page.)
Both the number of incidents out of the whole user population and the number of patients in the clinical trials were provided to the news media. Also, from its statements, Pfizer seemed amenable to altering the warning label and committed to invest in research to fully determine whether there is a causal relationship. This story will persist for the time being given Viagra’s folk hero status.
Also, this deflating news comes on the heels on another big Viagra story — that of convicted sex felons qualifying for Medicaid reimbursment for their Viagra prescriptions. I wonder which story will have the greater impact on sales of the popular drug?