Plans to scrap prescriptions for Viagra

There are plans in the UK to make Viagra available over the counter.

The impotence pill Viagra

There are plans in the UK to make Viagra available over the counter. (AAP)

Viagra could be made available from pharmacies in the UK under plans to scrap the need for a prescription.

Men would be able to buy the drug, which is used to treat erectile dysfunction in those aged 18 and over, after a chat with a pharmacist.

The proposal is set out in a consultation that runs until April 17 from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Packs of eight tablets of Viagra (also called sildenafil) would be made available, with men told to take no more than one tablet per day.

Viagra, which works by relaxing blood vessels, thereby allowing blood to flow to the penis, works for about eight hours and is designed to be used "on demand".

An MHRA spokesman said: "We always aim to widen choice and access for medicines when it is safe to do so.

"A final decision on whether to make sildenafil 50mg tablets available as a pharmacy medicine has yet to be made.

"We have analysed the scientific evidence on safety and sought advice from the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM)."

Dr Berkeley Phillips, UK medical director for Pfizer, which makes the drug, said: "The availability of pharmacist-supplied, non-prescription sildenafil could offer men a new and additional way to access a legitimate, long-established and well-studied treatment for erectile dysfunction.


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Source: AAP


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