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Viagra Popular In Gulf States
DUBAI (IslamOnline) – The drug utilized to combat male sexual impotence, Viagra, is the most popular aphrodisiac in oil-rich Arab Gulf countries, according to recent figures released by a major pharmaceutical company.
Gulf Pharmaceuticals, a leading Gulf-based pharmaceutical company, said in a report Thursday that figures within only two of the Gulf's six nations consumed as much as $14 million worth of Viagra pills in the past year alone.
The U.S. manufactured pill came into existence three years ago and has since taken many parts of the world by storm.
Helping to aid its popularity in the region, unlike other parts of the world, affluent Arab Gulf countries have no restrictions on the sale of the medicine. The drug treats male impotence and erectile dysfunction (ED).
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that monitors drug production, said it was monitoring Viagra very closely because of the tremendous popularity of the medication.
The drug is so popular that some women ventured into using the drug, prompting the U.S. pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, to issue warnings that the drug is not for women.
Deaths caused after using the drug also made the company advise that men on nitrates for heart disease should not use Viagra.
Pfizer says that erectile dysfunction affects over 30 million men to some degree in the United States alone. "Viagra is by far the most widely used treatment for ED," Pfizer states on its Viagra web site.
The company estimates that in the United States, more than five million men have turned to Viagra to improve their sexual function. Doctors in the United States have prescribed the drug more than 16 million times. The drug has proven to work in up to 82% of patients who take Viagra.
Gulf Pharmaceuticals said Saudi Arabia, a country of only 17 million, consumed around $12 million worth of the pill over the past year.
Also, "The consumption of the drug is on the increase in the United Arab Emirates," said Abderlraziq Youssef, CEO of Gulf Pharmaceuticals. "In fact it's very popular in many Arab countries."
The pill, which cost between $7-10 in the U.S., is sold for at least $20 in the Arab Gulf region.
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