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Side Effect Claims Go Limp

WASHINGTON DC -- Federal health investigators looking into reports that 43 men who used Viagra were struck blind after taking normal doses are now considering new data submitted by Pfizer supporting their contention that the drug may not to blame.

In a statement, Pfizer said that a review of 103 clinical trials with Viagra involving 13,000 patients found no reports of the sudden blindness, known as non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). "There is no evidence showing that NAION occurred more frequently in men taking Viagra than men of similar age and health who did not take Viagra," the statement said.

Unnamed sources within the Federal Drug Administration said the evidence presented included magazine subscription records and resturaunt receipts for the striken men suggesting other causes for the condition. Local county records confirm that all 43 men were unmarried. Private investigators hired by Pfizer have also verified that none were involved in an intimate relationship. Eleven of the forty-three men had made mysterious purchases of Nair hair remover at the same time as their reported vision problems.

All three impotence drugs -- Viagra, Cialis and Levitra -- already include warnings that the drug can cause, among other side effects, minor vision changes that include blurring, sensitivity to light and the presence of a bluish tinge to objects. The makers of Cialis, Eli Lilly & Co. and Icos Corp., have already voluntarily added a notice about the risk of sudden blindness to their label.

The three drugs work by slightly dilating arteries so the flow of blood increases to the penis. Howard Pomeranz, director of neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who recently reported the possible link between Viagra and sudden blindness in an ophthalmology journal, has written that the drug could be having a similar effect on the optic nerve. But he also has written that a definitive cause-and-effect link has not been established.

Lawyers handling a class action suit against Pfizer have quietly added Playboy, Hustler and Penthouse magazines as co-defendents.



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