Viagra Lawyers

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, said U.S. regulators may require a label warning that the Viagra impotence drug has been linked to reports of blindness and vision loss.

Pfizer has received 23 reports of such side effects since Viagra was introduced in 1998, spokesman Daniel Watts said today in an interview. The New York-based company is in talks with the Food and Drug Administration to update Viagra's label, Watts said. A warning was added to a rival drug, Cialis, this month.

Viagra, the first pill to treat erectile dysfunction, has been taken by 23 million men and generated $1.68 billion in sales last year. Viagra dominates the market for impotence medicines, and Chief Executive Hank McKinnell is counting on it to help compensate for generic competition in the next two years on drugs that account for a third of Pfizer's sales.

``If there is a correlation between Viagra and blindness it would, theoretically be a connection for all of the erectile- dysfunction drugs,'' said Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Barbara Ryan, who has a ``buy'' rating on Pfizer and doesn't own the shares. ``It's an extraordinarily rare complication --perhaps of the underlying condition that the patient has.''

The FDA has 43 reports of varying degrees of vision loss, including blindness, among users of impotence drugs: 38 among Viagra users, four among Cialis users and one among users of Levitra, another competing medicine, spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said today in Rockville, Maryland.

``The FDA is working with the company,'' agency spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said. ``People who have concerns should talk with their doctors.''

Prevention Possible

The FDA is looking into whether Viagra contributes to or causes non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, which Johns Hopkins School of Medicine professor Neil Miller described as ``a stroke of the optic nerve.''

The optic nerve, which connects brain and eye, is especially sensitive to shortages of blood, he said. Illnesses such as diabetes and clogged arteries can hamper blood flow to the eye and increase the risk of damage to the nerve. Drugs like Viagra lower blood pressure and may further jeopardize it.

Men taking Viagra should check whether they have an unusual formation in a part of the eye, the optic disc, which puts them at higher risk for starving the optic nerve of blood, Miller said in an interview. The optic disc, or blind spot, is where nerves connect to the back part of the eye's retina, according to the National Eye Institute's Web site.

``The way to protect oneself is to go to an ophthalmologist and say, `Do I have a disc at risk?''' Miller said. ``Every ophthalmologist should know what that is.''