The Food and Drug Administration have announced that it has given Eli Lily’s successful erectile dysfunction drug, Cialis, the go ahead for the treating of enlarged prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH, and with men who suffer from erectile dysfunction, they will experience double the benefit from this treatment.

Phase III trials revealed that the 5mg, once daily consumption of tadalafil (Cialis’ active ingredient) improved symptoms associated with both conditions significantly.

BPH causes men to experience sudden urges to pass urine and more frequently during the night. There are a few treatments on the market for BPH however none have been approved to treat both conditions simultaneously.

Cialis was already hot on the heels of Viagra and set to become the most popular of the erectile dysfunction treatments and now with the FDA’s approval for its alternative use, the bar has been raised even higher.

Cialis has overtaken Viagra and is on its way to becoming the new name on everyone’s lips having more prescriptions filled than Viagra this year internationally. 5 years after Viagra was launched, Cialis was born and Lily, the eager pharmaceutical company pulled out all the stops at that time in order to help Cialis edge its way in to an already buzzing market. This year sales have increased by 9% on the year before and numbers continue to rise.

Their biggest selling point is the much longer period of duration of Cialis. This means that the effects of Cialis will last 36 hours compared with Viagra’s 4 hour window. Furthermore, Tadalafil (the active ingredient) has other uses and Lily is pushing for it to be sold as a treatment for hypertension in Europe. In the US it is hoping for approval as a drug for prostate enlargement which is often associated with erectile dysfunction.

The question is will the emergence of generic Viagra next year prompt a decline in Cialis sales. For now, ‘Le weekend pill’ is still going strong.

We have seen an alert from Australia about a product called Cialis 50. The product is sold as an aid for erectile dysfunction but is totally unrelated to the prescription medication called Cialis. Cialis 50 came to prominence a few days ago when an Australian truck driver was admitted to a hospital in Queensland with slurred speech and profuse sweating. It then transpired that the 54 year old truck driver had taken the fake erectile dysfunction medication that had been sold illegally.

This case highlights the dangers of buying counterfeit medication. Many people are tempted to go down the counterfeit route because the fakes are a fraction of the price of the real thing. As you can see from this story, saving a few pounds may do nothing for your health. The Online Clinic is happy to support the Get Real campaign, which aims to educate people on how to get a legitimate prescription, either online or in person. The UK healthcare industry is highly regulated so it could not be easier trying to sort the “Viagra Cowboys” out from the legitimate healthcare providers such as The Online Clinic. Make sure that the clinic that you are dealing with is registered with the Care Quality Commission. We carry their logo on our home page and publish our certificate number so that you can check us out with the regulator. Avoid anyone who does not have a certificate as they are operating illegally.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency have successfully carried out a raid in Bristol, resulting in the seizure of a large load of counterfeit medications.

Police from the Safer Stronger Neighbourhood team supported their collegues at the MHRA and carried out the raids at three properties, in the Newtown, Redfield and Hotwells areas of the city.

In total, the team seized counterfeit medications worth £180,000. They included the erectile dysfunction medications Viagra, Levitra and Cialis, as well as the anti-anxiety medication Diezepam. The officers also discovered a large amount of cannabis plants at one of the properties, thought to have a street value of £40,000.

Further investigation also resulted in the seizure of 1000 tablets which officials believe to be counterfeit.

So far, a 23-year old man has been arrested on suspicious of cultivating cannabis. A 28-year old man has also been arrested on suspicious of supplying counterfeit medication.

A spokesperson for the Safer Neighbourhood team, police sergeant Jon Ames, said that the branch was committed to stamping out the trade in counterfeit medication and asked for the public to contact them if they had any further information about illegal activity.

The head of enforcement for the MHRA Mike Deats warned that people who purchased medication from any other sources other than a registered pharmacy were putting their health at risk, possibly taking doses that were too high or low or even imbibing dangerous substances.

He added that those dealing in counterfeit drugs didn’t care about consumer’s health and were only interested in making money.

The UK Medicines regulator has warned that patients taking herbal remedies to treat erectile dysfunction could be taking serious risks with their health.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the MHRA, has said that patients should avoid taking herbal ED products and should stick to the three clinically trialed remedies for the condition, Cialis, Levitra and Viagra.

The regulatory body said that often, herbal products contain unspecified chemical ingredients and are dangerous and misleading. In a statement, they said that frequently products that promised to be 100% natural were making false claims.

The products are sold either on the internet or through traditional herbal outlets. Each month, the MHRA announce that various supposedly herbal products have been discovered to contain illegal ingredients, such as sildenafil (the active drug in Viagra) or tadalafil (the drug in Cialis), though this is not declared on the ingredients list.

Both drugs should only be sold with a doctor’s prescription and can put patients health at risk if they have contra-indications for the medication.

The MHRA warned that taking medicines containing ‘random, uncontrolled quantities’ of the analogue chemical compounds could potentially cause serious reactions in patients, including strokes, heart attacks and severe hypotension.

Since 2005, the MHRA have discovered that 2/3s of the 138 unlicensed herbal products they tested contained prescription-only medications in a range of quantities.

The three pharmaceutical firms who manufacture the best-selling erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra have received a heavy fine after they were convicted of price fixing their drugs in Switzerland.

The Swiss Competition Commission have ruled that the three firms, Pfzier, Eli Lilley and Bayer AG must pay a total f 5.7million francs (or $5.7 million) for breaching Swiss competition law. It has not been revealed how much each company must individually pay.

All the companies refuted the allegation. A spokeperson from Eli Lilley, manufacturers of Cialis, said that the company believed that the public price recommendation for the drug was in line with Swiss competition law, while Bayer released a statement said that they were exploring how they could challenge the fine. Pfizer’s spokeperson said that the firm did not believe the decision would survive a court examination.

The case first came to the public’s attention when the three companies claimed that the cost of the three drugs had risen drastically, leading the SCC to suspect that the suggested prices were far too high.

The Swiss have been watching the case with great interest and the findings of the SCC are likely to cause huge embarrassment to the pharmaceutical firms. With their reputations under threat, they are likely to fight tooth and nail against the fine.

The US and China are locked in a battle over the custody of a Chinese woman accused of importing illegal medication, including the diet pills Reductil and Xenical and erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra and Cialis.

Miao Qun Huang, also known as Cherry Wong, has been investigated by U.S officials for illegal trade of counterfeit medications, and the National Bureau of Investigation has placed her on ‘provisional arrest’ to be extradited to from the Philippines to Texas. The provisional warrant was issued by a Manila court.

However the Chinese embassy in a diplomatic note sent to the Department of Justice said that as she was a Chinese national holding a Chinese passport, and her crimes were committed in the Chinese mainland, they believed that China had jurisdiction over her.  They added that China was strongly opposed to her extradition to any third country without their prior consent.

If she is successfully extradited to Texas, Huang will face 7 charges of trafficking counterfeit Viagra, Cialis, Xenical and Reductil. Her lawyer is arguing that as the Philippines and China signed their own extradition treaty preventing the extradition of a country’s citizen without the consent of their country of nationality, she cannot be sent to Texas to face trial.

Her lawyer Jose Bernas has said that her extradition would set a dangerous precedent in international law, warning that it could leave the Philippines open to the extradition of their own nationals, either from the Philippines or a third country, for crimes committed outside of the requesting state’s territory.

Scientists from New York have said that a topical cream being developed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction could be safer than the traditional pill method currently used.

Studies have been done showing that the three main ED medications Viagra, Cialis and Levitra could pass through the skin in tiny capsules, producing fewer side effects and speeding up the action of the drugs considerably.

At the moment, some men experience side effects from the medication, which can include blurred vision, headaches or upset stomachs. Men with heart problems are also advised to be extremely cautious when using the tablets or even avoid using them entirely.

The topical cream might avoid these problems, as by applying the cream specifically to the genital area the active ingredients of the medication would be confined to a single area, rather than circulating widely around the body.

The science behind the new innovation is nanotechnology, which uses tiny particles smaller than a grain of pollen. One of the lead researchers, Dr Kelvin Davis, said that the nanoparticles containing Cialis, nitric oxide and a new medication called sialorphin, entered the body extremely quickly and so cut down the response time to a few minutes, fulfilling men’s wish for a fast-acting medication.

The team published the results from the tests, which were done on rats, in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. They warned however that the topical cream was unlikely to be ready for general use for at least a decade.

Malaysian health authorities have cracked down on the sales of a sweet being sold as a ‘sex sweet’ after it was discovered not to contain herbal root as advertised but the prescription-only drugs tadalafil and sildenafil.

Enforcers from the Health Ministry intercepted a shipment of 68,000 ‘herbal’ candies before they were exported to Middle East and China..

A spokesperson from the ministry said that they were being illegally manufactured in remote local factories and contained doses of medication several times stronger than normal Viagra pills.

The subsequent investigation showed that the manufacturers deliberately included the drugs in the mixture of the sweets. The raids followed a tip-off from a source and several raids were carried out.

The distributors of the sweets put misleading information on the packaging of the product , which claimed that the main ingredient of the sweets was plant extract and ginseng, in an attempt to mislead customers.

If convicted, the offenders could face two years imprisonment or be given a significant fine.

Bayer Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturers of the erectile dysfunction medication Levitra, have submitted an application to have a new formulation of the drug registered in the European Union.

Bayer are excited about the new formula, which they hope will improve the currently flagging sales of the medicine. They plan to sell the medicine in the form on an orodispersible tablet containing 10mg of vardenafil, the medical name for Levitra. The pill will dissolves on the tongue in seconds. This would give Levitra an edge of the competition, as both Cialis and Viagra need to be taken with water.

They hope that the new type of pill will prove more discreet and convenient, as men will not need to interrupt foreplay to get a glass of water to take their medication with.

A representative from Bayer, Jean-Philippe Milon, said that the new formula marked a ‘strategic milestone’ in the development of ‘innovative and easy-to-use men’s health products’.

The pharmaceutical company have completed two large phase III clinical studies which they say showed the the new formulation is as safe and effective as the current pills on the market.

A drugs company has launched a new medication that uses the ED drug Cialis – known medically as tadalafil – to combat pulmonary hypertension. The medication is called Adcirca and is being sold as a rival to Pzifer’s treatment Revatio, which uses Viagra to similar effect.

Pharmaceutical companies discovered a few years ago that the common erectile dysfunction medications had a secondary use as a pulmonary hypertension medication. Pfizer was the first to get its product on the market, and though it is not a massive money spinner for them, Revatio is one of the few medications they sell that has steadily increasing sales.

It is believed that Cialis may be more effective at treating pulmonary hypertension as it will be offered to patients in a single pill which will have the same effect as three doses of Revatio. There have also been suggestions that United Therapeutics will offer it at a lower price than patients and healthcare providers would pay for Revatio.

Industry pundits are now questioning whether Bayer will push on with a pulmonary hypertension product based on their own erectile dysfunction medication, Levitra, which has suffered from flagging sales in the U.S over the last couple of years. There have already been clinical trials that suggest that it too is effective in treating the condition.

New search engine Bing has become a haven for illegal pharmaceutical suppliers, it was claimed this week. An investigation indicated that 9 out of 10 sponsored adverts were advertising prescription drugs from companies directly breaking U.S law.

Working together, the firms Knujon (“no junk” backwards) and Legitscript, which monitors websites selling prescription meds, spent a month entering search terms for prescription drugs into Bing and checking out the sites they were directed to. They concluded that 89.7% of the adverts were for illegal firms.

Of the 10 firms that the researchers examined in greater depth, they discovered that none required a doctor’s prescription for supplying medications as required by law. In their report, the authors warned that the firm’s breaches of law were not minor slip-ups, but indicated that the websites were “wholly fraudulent” and run by “criminal networks”.

Having ordered from at least two of these sites, the investigators were sent medication purporting to be the erectile dysfunction medication Cialis, which was discovered to be counterfeit. They found that many of the advertisers were selling drugs from India, while others were being run by a Russian criminal gang.

They also discovered that rogue companies were posting adverts seeming to come from legitimate, reputable companies which actually directed internet surfers to illegal sites.

Bing is Microsoft’s attempt to break Google’s stranglehold over the search engine market. Launched a few months ago, the engine has been slowly chipping away at Google’s ratings, increasing its market share by 1% last month to a 9.41% share of the U.S market.

However the loopholes discovered by the report suggest that there are still major issues Microsoft needs to iron out. The firm's guidelines clearly state that any pharmacies advertising on their site need to operate within U.S law. 24 hours after the report was published, Microsoft issued a statement promising to take the claims seriously and investigate the issue.

A warning was issued this week about the libido-boosting treatment Libipower Plus after it was discovered to contain tadalafil, the same ingredient found in the prescription-only erectile dysfunction treatment Cialis.

Manufacturers Haloteco issued a voluntary recall after the Federal Food and Drug Administration informed them that their product contained the powerful medication, which was not declared on the packaging.

When taken by patients with contra-indications for Cialis, tadalafil can cause problems. It can also interact with other medications containing nitrates, often used to treat conditions such as angina.

Libipower is mostly sold in California, in 1 capsule blister packs. Haloteco have said that they put out the voluntary recall to ensure their reputation for care of their patients was not compromised and have apologised for any inconvenience caused. The FDA has asked that any patients taking the capsules stop using them immediately and contact their doctor if they experienced any side-effects.

Earlier this week, a massive trial into the sales of counterfeit Viagra, Cialis and Propecia came to a close as the last three members of a seven-strong criminal gang were jailed at Kingston Crown Court.

The Medicines and Heathcare Products Regulatory Agency's investigation, codenamed Operation Stormgrand, saw the gang receive prison sentences totalling 17.5 years and confiscation orders for £3,074,242. The operation, begun in 2005, was the largest ever discovery by the MHRA of counterfeit drugs, with over £1.5 m worth of counterfeit medication seized.

The gang formed the UK arm of a worldwide ring which was operating in China, India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and the USA. In 2002 HM Customs officials seized large quantities of Viagra at Stanstead Airport, followed by the seizure of a variety of other drugs disguised as harmless supplements with names such as Samples of Mineral Supplements for Dogs” and “Calcium for Kids.”

The last person to be sentenced was Alpesh Patel, who was convicted for masterminding thea conspiracy on an industrial scale to supply counterfeit medication. He was handed out a 12 month suspended sentence.

The sentence follows that of his fellow gang member Dr. George Patino, who after pleading guilty was given a three year jail term for supplying counterfeit Viagra.

We have just heard that Cialis has been approved by the FDA in the United States for once a day use on a low dose of 2.5 mg and 5 mg.  This treatment is suitable for men who suffer accute erectile dysfunction and have sex on a very regular basis.  The dosing does not have to be arranged around planned sexual activity as with the current "as required" dosing regimen with 10 mg and 20 mg.  For men who are having sex less frequently, say twice a week or less, then the existing dosing regime will be more appropriate.  The daily dosing of Cialis is available in some parts of Europe but we are not yet offering it in the UK. As and when this becomes available in the UK we will be prepared to prescribe it if it is appropriate to a patient's personal circumstances and he is not contraindicated by way of any other consideration.

A study has been carried out by a medical team in France which has been trumpeted around as though it has come up with some ground-breaking piece of news and it has had coverage in a few specialist medical journals.  Basically, the research is stating that Cialis (tadalafil) can help men with spinal cord injuries get over any erectile dysfunction that they may be suffering.  The problem with the research is that it compared the reaction against a control group on a placebo, which is fine, but no comparison was done against any of the other ED drugs available to prescribe such as Viagra and Levitra.  Also, the overall response rate was 75%, which is more or less the average response rate of the entire ED population so we are not quite sure what is so newsworthy about this story!  Cialis is a great drug, there is no doubt about that, and it is fast catching up with Viagra as the first choice medication for men suffering with ED.  Maybe the research was commissioned by the manufacturer of Cialis in order to get a bit of publicity, hence the lack of comparison with the other ED drugs which would probably produce a similar response rate.  It is certainly the case that Cialis is less well known than its close relative, Viagra, and they must want to rectify this state of affairs!

All the PDE5 inhibitor drugs work more or less equally well but some work better for individuals than others.  If you would like a free consultation for ED, please navigate to The Online Clinic home page.

Eli Lilly and ICOS have applied to medicine regulators for approval for a daily dose form of Cialis, its successful impotence treatment. The daily dose would be 5 mg. Cialis is currently licensed as an “on demand” medication which is required to be taken at least 30 minutes before sexual activity. The medication is currently licensed in 10 mg and 20 mg doses, with the 20 mg dose being by far the most popular.

A daily dose would allow men suffering from erectile dysfunction a greater degree of spontaneity in the way that they organise their sex lives. A recent double blind trial of the daily dose Cialis found that 50% of men taking Cialis considered their erectile dysfunction to have been cured against only 8% of men on the placebo.

Analysts have suggested that it is unlikely that the daily dose form of the medication will be as popular as the “on demand” version of Cialis as it will inevitably lead to a higher overall cost for patients. Also, Cialis already allows a greater degree of timing flexibility than its competitors as it has a longer period if effectiveness: up to 36 hours compared with around 4 hours for Viagra and Levitra.