SAN JOSE - Dozens of Costa Ricans are hurrying to drugstores to purchase the pill that fights erectile dysfunction, Viagra, for which they had anxiously waited since the drug's positive effects were disclosed.
Sources of the manufacturer, Pfizer, said they had distributed 20,000 pills throughout the country, all of 50 milligrams and at an average cost of ¢3,163 ($12.10) each.
Fischel Drugstore, in downtown San José, sold 25 of the pills in the first two hours Viagra was available, a spokesperson there said. Also, calls inquiring about the drug are constant, the Fischel source added.
The pill is sold only under prescription and the 100 mg. version will be available early next week, Pfizer representatives added.
Viagra made it to the Costa Rican market after meeting all of the requirements and being duly registered at the Ministry of Health, the manufacturers said.
Elsewhere
Costa Rica became the first Central American nation which has authorized the sale of Viagra, but Panama is expected to do likewise next week, according to Daniel Brenes, director of Pfizer's Logistics Division for Central America.
He added that all of the requirements demanded in the other Central American countries have been met and that they expect Viagra to be available in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua before the end of the year.
Brenes also explained that strict measures have been taken to ensure proper use of the pill, which according to him is expected to mean "a change in the approach to the problem" of erectile dysfunction or male sexual impotency.