RIYADH, 1 June 2005 — The local office of Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, has denied that Viagra pills, used widely in the treatment of erectile dysfunction, cause blindness.

The denial follows after a similar clarification was issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in reference to recent reports appearing in the local and global media that Viagra users eventually go blind.

On behalf of Pfizer (Middle East), Dr. Muhammad Khalifa said reports about Viagra published recently are misleading.

“Even the top US drug agency has contested the reports carried by the media,” he said.

The Kingdom tops the list of Gulf countries in terms of the usage of sexual dysfunction drugs, and the cumulative value of these drugs prescribed in the Gulf countries exceeds $45 million annually.

“There is no link between optic-nerve inflammation (blindness) and the ED drug (Viagra),” said Suzan Kruisan, a spokesperson for the FDA.

Viagra, which is available in 100 mg, 50 mg and 25 mg tablet forms for oral use, continues to have FDA approval. Pfizer reports there are no cases of optic-nerve infection upon reviewing more than 103 clinical studies conducted on Viagra users involving 13,000 patients.

“More than 23 million men around the world have used Viagra in the last seven years; very rare cases of myopia due to the optic-nerve inflammation have been recorded,” said a statement released by the company.

The clinical trials included no reports of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a medical condition affecting vision loss. There is no evidence showing the affliction occurred more frequently in men taking Viagra than men of similar age and health who did not take Viagra.

“NAION is the most common acute optic-nerve disease in adults over age 50 and it shares a number of common risk factors with erectile dysfunction: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes. Most of the reported cases in which NAION has occurred in men taking Viagra have involved patients with underlying anatomic or vascular risk factors associated with the development of NAION,” the Pfizer statement said.

Pfizer is in discussions with the FDA to update the Viagra label to reflect these rare ocular occurrences.