Last updated 18:38, May 10 2018
SUPPLIED
Viagra is now off patent and generic versions are available in New Zealand, but the cost savings are not being passed on to consumers.
Viagra is now off patent and generic versions are available in New Zealand, but the cost savings are not being passed on to consumers.
A Dunedin urologist has slammed pharmacies for slapping large mark-ups on pills for cancer patients with erectile dysfunction.
Government drug-buying agency Pharmac currently funds Sildenafil for people with Raynaud's phenomenon and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
But patients of Dunedin Hospital urologist Dr Kampta Samalia have to pay $10 for each of the tablets from city pharmacies, even though they "should come into the same category", he said.
"I'm not talking about ordinary people off the street who want to shag and have a Viagra . . . I'm talking about the guys who have had prostate cancer and had their prostate removed."
With Viagra now off patent, generic versions were now available in New Zealand.
That had forced the price down, but the savings had not flowed through to customers, Samalia said.
Pharmacies he canvassed were selling the tablets for $10 each.
"A lot of people are being put off because of the price," he said.
"Everybody would like to have sex sometimes, and the biggest inhibitor is the cost."
Pharmac director of operations Lisa Williams said the agency had considered an application for erectile dysfunction for all men, and one for a group of patients with spinal cord injuries.
"To date Pharmac has not decided to fund Sildenafil for erectile dysfunction. Pharmac has never received an application specifically to fund Sildenafil for erectile dysfunction in patients with prostate cancer."
Anyone was welcome to make a funding application, and Pharmac "would give due consideration to the evidence supporting the application", she said.
A Pfizer spokeswoman said the company, which had supplied Viagra to help treat men with erectile dysfunction for 20 years, "does not comment on competitors or on pricing matters".
The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand has been approached for comment about pricing.