Date: August 14, 2006

Viagra and other drug prescriptions are increasingly being available free of cost which has further triggered off wave of protest from the consumer groups on account of the fear that they may be attracted to risky medicines.

The offers are an indication of the robust marketing strategy of the drug manufacturers through which they are trying to capture the attention of customers. A wealth of drug manufacturers including the Viagra maker Pfizer Incl. is dishing out prescriptions of their medicines for free. On every six filled Viagra, Pfizer Incl. offers the drug prescription for free and the Sanofi -Aventis manufactured sleeping pill Ambien also comes free of cost.

The offer of free drug trials has made the regulators and consumer groups to worry over the side-effects of medicines. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is also too worried over the free drug offers which are catching on. In a notice issued by FDA earlier this year, the drug authority mentioned that prescription medicines promoted with free trials or coupons could be found to be more or less risky than they really are and so they should be utilized only with a cautionary approach.

Spokesman from Pfizer Incl. says that its Viagra "value card" that offers a free seventh prescription of the medicine and it is aimed at helping people to get hold of the drug if they don't have an insurance coverage of it.

Source: boston.com

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