Viagra Would Need Sex Therapist's Approval Under Ohio Bill
samsung1
Ohio
If women considering abortions must face government-mandated examinations, it's only fair that men who want drugs such as Viagra to treat impotence get the same treatment, an Ohio (STOOH1) lawmaker says.
State Senator Nina Turner, a Cleveland Democrat, has introduced a bill to require that physicians take specific actions before prescribing such drugs, including giving a cardiac stress test and making a referral to a sex therapist for confirmation that “the patient's symptoms are not solely attributable to one or more psychological conditions.â€
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Viagra tablets. Photographer: Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
“We want to make sure that men, vulnerable, fragile men, who are not capable of making decisions for themselves, understand all of the side effects and the implications of these types of drugs,†Turner said in a telephone interview.
Her bill takes its place alongside similar efforts by Democratic lawmakers in states including Virginia (STOVA1), Georgia (STOGA1) and Missouri (STOMO1) in response to moves by Republican-controlled legislatures to limit abortions or oppose a federal requirement to include contraceptives in health-care plans.
A bill in Missouri would allow vasectomies only to protect a man from serious injury or death, according to the Associated Press, and in Virginia, which passed a bill requiring women to get an ultrasound before an abortion, state Senator Janet Howell sought an amendment requiring doctors to perform a rectal exam and stress test before prescribing erectile-dysfunction drugs.
For the Gander
“I think we should just have a little gender equity here,†Howell testified in January, according to a video posted on her YouTube channel.
Medications such as Viagra, manufactured by Pfizer Inc. (PFE), the world's largest drugmaker, increase blood flow to the penis. Side effects can include headaches, blue-tinted vision and long- lasting and painful erections, according to the Viagra website.
Turner, 44, said she modeled her Ohio bill in response to a measure in the Republican-dominated Legislature that would prohibit doctors from performing an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The legislation passed the Ohio House last year, and Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus has said he will resume hearings on it after yesterday's primary.
‘Equal Opportunity'
The Turner bill mimics provisions of the so-called heartbeat bill, including requiring a doctor to place medical records about prescriptions for erectile dysfunction in a patient's file and keep them for at least seven years.
“If we are going to be in the business as policy makers of regulating sexual health or medical health, then we should do it across the board,†Turner said. “We should be equal opportunity in that.â€
The legislation will be assigned to a committee, and it will be up to the chairman to decide when it is considered, said Angela Meleca, a spokeswoman for Senate Republicans. Senate leaders have not yet reviewed the measure can't comment on its status, Meleca said.
Peter O'Toole, a Pfizer spokesman, said by phone that the company doesn't comment on specific legislation.
Turner said she is serious about passing her bill, pointing to the drugs' potential side effects. It's also telling that legislation about women's reproductive health is common and measures about men's health aren't, Turner said.
“Instead of focusing in on the crisis that we're still trying to dig ourselves out of as a country related to the fiscal crisis of 2008, some of us have found leisure time to deal with reproductive health -- and not deal with it in a very productive manner,†she said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07…
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You can have my viagra when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!
RE: The proposed legislation. That's just stupid. It's a handout to "sex therapists." What are they going to say? "You need ED meds." Or, "You don't need ED meds." They're prescription meds already, right? So a doctor has already made one of those two statements.
Between lunatics with guns who kill abortion providers and layer upon layer of regulation, the right to an abortion in this country has been nearly extinguished. Now it seems we are moving into limits on contraception. Next are chastity belts and burning at the stake of fornicators and adulterers.
The return of The Inquisition?!
Pfizer Gets 6-Month Patent Extensions For Viagra, Revatio
Published February 17, 2012
Dow Jones Newswires
Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) blockbuster anti-impotence pill Viagra has been granted an additional six months of U.S. patent protection--because the company studied the drug's active ingredient in children.
Don't worry, Pfizer isn't planning to market Viagra to kids.
The additional exclusivity arises because Viagra shares an active ingredient, sildenafil, with another Pfizer drug, Revatio, which is marketed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lung's arteries.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration previously asked Pfizer to test Revatio in children with pulmonary hypertension. Pfizer conducted the studies and has applied for FDA approval to market Revatio for use in children; an FDA decision is expected in May.
Federal law provides for such extensions of exclusivity as an incentive for drug makers to test products that may be helpful to children. During exclusivity periods, competing generic copies are generally prohibited from entering the market. The FDA granted the six-month pediatric extension for sildenafil on Feb. 9, according to the FDA website.
The patent extension applies to any drug containing sildenafil, even Viagra, which is only approved for use by men with erectile dysfunction and not for use by children.
As a result, the U.S. period of exclusivity for Viagra would extend by six months until April 2020, said Pfizer spokeswoman Victoria Davis. That is based on a patent due to expire in 2019, which covers sildenafil's use to treat ED. This patent was upheld by a federal judge last year, though Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), which challenged the patent's validity, has appealed that decision.
The basic patent for sildenafil was due to expire in March 2012. The pediatric exclusivity period now extends to September.
The U.S. periods of exclusivity for Revatio will extend to September for its tablet formulation, and to May 2013 for its intravenous formulation, Davis said.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/02/…
Or you can do like I do and buy it offshore.
I'm not promoting any violence or anything else.
Of course, the right thing to do on the other side is legislation that the man gets the kids, the money, the house, and any future income the woman makes when in a divorce.