May 09
23
Free Viagra for the Unemployed?
The maker of the most popular (arguably) impotence and sexual dysfunction drug on the market, Viagra, has decided to really throw itself into this whole corporate goodwill thing with both feet. Pfizer has made the announcement that since we are in a recession and jobless numbers are going way up and out of control, they have decided to start a program for those that have lost their jobs and their health insurance, to give them free prescriptions to several of their top selling drugs such as Lipitor, a drug that helps control cholesterol levels, and Viagra. However, the only catch is that you must have been on them for the last three months at least before you lost your job.
I’m thinking the idea here from a business angle is that they are hoping they will retain all that business after the jobs start rolling in again, and when this recession is over, people will be so used to their drugs that they won’t want to go without, and will keep the prescription going with their new health plan when they have it again. However, Pfizer has definitely scored in the goodwill category and this will generate some very positive PR for them over the next year or two, which goes a long way in the form of publicity and public relations that you can’t necessarily put a price on these days.
Pfizer made news recently also when it bought out another company. It’s stock price has been suffering, but this may be just the boost the business needs to get over certain negative publicity about their drug price control practices and cornering the market and things like that, which actually most drugmakers have to face since the pharmaceutical industry is sort of looked at as a necessary evil by a lot of people, especially with our increasing interest in natural and herbal medicine. Herbal supplements for male enhancement have gained immensely in popularity, giving medications like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra a run for their money but certainly not totally devastating their market share by any means.
Relatively speaking, the male enhancement industry is a fairly new one, if you consider how long the erectile dysfunction problem has been present. The first major drug was Viagra, and that was introduced about fifteen years ago now, which is not that far in the past if you think about it. There are most likely leaps and bounds still to be made in this area of medicine, so it’ll be interesting to see what the next step in male sexual performance enhancement is. Bet the ladies can’t wait!
