The anti-impotence drug Viagra is being sold freely on the Internet as part of a growing illegal market in Britain, according to drug squad officers.
The US drug, which has yet to receive a licence in Britain, can be imported from Europe and the US via the Internet, and a senior drugs squad officer in Scotland has said his force is concerned about its use.
After the deaths of six men in the US who had been using the drug, and reports that three users in Egypt have been taken into intensive care, concern is focusing on the illegal trade of Viagra in Britain. The head of the drugs unit at Strathclyde Police, Det Supt Bob Lauder, said that because of claims about the benefits of using Viagra, the drug was being sought in Scotland.
A spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said it was aware the drug was being sold on the Internet and had warned people "not to get hold of drugs that way".
Police also believe that the blue, diamond-shaped drug is being sold on the Internet at four times the price it is being sold at in the US, with British Internet users buying the drug for £15. One of the drug's ingredients is manufactured in a factory in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, and in Britain it is available on prescription but only on a "named patient" basis. It is only prescribed if it is considered the most effective option available to treat male impotence.
The Internet service promises an on-line medical review by a doctor before buying the drug but, rather than warning customers of the potential side-effects, the service dazzles them with descriptions of Viagra as the "ultimate aphrodisiac". The manufacturers of the drug, Pfizer Ltd, have said they are concerned that British men buying the drugs from unregulated sources are not being told about the potential side-effects. These include nausea, headaches and, in some men, an inability to distinguish between the colours green and blue.
Pfizer also warned that people with heart problems or those taking drugs containing nitrates should not take Viagra.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian health minister, Mr Ismail Sallam, said three men had been admitted into intensive care after using Viagra at the weekend. He said the cases confirmed the Egyptian government's decision not to issue a licence to Viagra was a sound one.
In Switzerland, where the drug is not licensed but can be bought at a number of pharmacies, a spokesman for the International Office for Control of Medicines (OICM) warned men against using Viagra until further tests were carried out. Mr Jean-Christophe Meroz said the drug was being sold in Switzerland, and French and Italian men had travelled across the Swiss border to buy it.