Date: March 28, 2007

With the aim of increasing the sales of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, Pfizer Incl., the manufacturer of Viagra is now carrying out experimentation on the drug to determine whether Viagra helps in curing high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia, a condition associated with the premature delivery of babies in pregnant women. Across the world, Viagra patent is scheduled to expire in between 2011 and 2013 and as such Pfizer in now experimenting on the other uses of Viagra in order to maximize Viagra sales which is currently found to be $1.6bn (£800m, E1.2bn).

The Viagra testing is being carried at Rambam Healthcare Campus in Israel on women in weeks 24 to 33 of pregnancy and in the grip of the disorders such as high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia and high blood pressure are health problems common to women in the pregnancy period and it has also been found that while Preeclampsia is a common disorder in 5% of all pregnancies, high blood pressure is capable of leading to complications in almost 2%-3% of pregnancies.

It has also become evident that altogether these two disorders kill 76,000 women and newborns on an yearly basis.

Source: http://www.thebusinessonline.com

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