I suspect consumers may be starting to understand just how much marketing "magic" goes into the drugs conventional physicians prescribe to them. A good example is the market of erectile dysfunction drugs. Despite devoting close to $400 MILLION on advertising for the first 10 months of 2004 alone to young males, sales of erectile dysfunction drugs -- Viagra, Levitra and Cialis -- have flattened to a mere $1.2 BILLION.

That's the same number this class of drugs earned in 2003, which has prompted concerns from Wall Street. By the numbers:

• Domestic Viagra sales declined 20 percent in 2004 to $886 million.
• One company estimates some 1.3 million men are filling prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs each month.
• The number of free drug samples has risen sharply, a sign of desperation by companies to market their drugs, according to analysts. So much so, that GlaxoSmithKline (Levitra) figures more than 50 percent of the impotence pills on the market last year were SAMPLES.

It's about time, considering Viagra alone has been linked to potential risk factors for several health problems, including heart disease, stroke and infertility.

Chicago Tribune January 23, 2005