Chinese men suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) now have
easier access to Viagra.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) and the State Food and Drug
Administration (SFDA) have given the green light for pharmacies in
major cities to sell Viagra, a medication that has only been
available through strictly controlled prescriptions issued by
specialists since 2000.
Physicians in a wider range of specialties are also now
authorized to prescribe Viagra.
Pfizer China, the distributor of the drug, made the announcement
on Monday in Beijing.
According to a joint statement by the MOH and SFDA, urologists,
andrologists, psychiatrists, gerontologists, endocrinologists and
cardiologists at hospitals above county level or at specialized
hospitals for cardiovascular and psychiatric illnesses may now
issue the prescriptions.
Previously, only chief physicians in a few of departments,
including urology and cardiovascular disease, were authorized.
The MOH and SFDA made the decision based on more than six years
of clinical research and use of Viagra worldwide, as well as more
than four years of clinical use in China.
More than 2,000 patients in 36 major hospitals across the
country participated in the clinical trials in the past four years,
said Guo Yinglu, a senior professor of urology at the Peking
University No. 1 Hospital.
Medical workers say the move is a breakthrough in the treatment
of ED in China. “Easier access to the treatment will guarantee the
happiness of more families,” said Guo.
Just a few years ago, ED was a taboo topic here. The situation
has been improving in the four years since Viagra’s entry into the
Chinese market in 2000, said Guo, but more needs to be done to
better tackle the issue.
A recent survey of 1,000 ED patients in more than 10 cities by
the Beijing People’s Hospital indicated that Chinese patients wait
an average of 22 months after developing the disorder to see a
physician, much longer than the average of six months in Western
nations.
According to the survey, around 90 percent of ED sufferers in
China do not go to hospitals for three major reasons: embarrassment
and prudery; concerns about privacy; and distrust of the efficacy
of currently available treatments.
Relaxing controls over ED drugs will help arouse public
awareness about the disorder as well as benefiting patients by
lowering costs and increasing convenience, according to Zhu
Jichuan, chairman of the Urology Association of the China Medical
Association.
The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicine
Evaluation Agency approved Viagra in 1998. Since then, it has been
licensed and marketed in 123 countries.
(China Daily September 28, 2004)