“One whiff and you’re stiff.” Residents of Ringaskiddy, Ireland are feeling arousing effects from breathing the air near the local Pfizer plant that manufactures Viagra.
At least two UK newspapers, The Telegraph and The Sunday Times, have reported that some of the residents of Ringaskiddy, Ireland, located near Cork, are feeling arousing effects from breathing the air near the local Pfizer plant that manufactures erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
“One whiff and you’re stiff,” said Debbie O’Grady to The Sunday Times. O’Gray is a local bartender at the Ferry Boat Inn.
The Pfizer facility manufactures the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for Viagra, sildenafil, at the plant. A resident told The Telegraph, “We have much to thank Pfizer for … it has breathed new life into our relationships.”
Lisa O’Neill, a Pfizer spokesperson, however, told in-Pharma Technologist, “Pfizer manufacturing facilities operate to the highest environmental standards and are regulated and licensed by health authorities and environmental agencies which have strict protocols to ensure that emissions from manufacturing sites have no effect on human health or the environment.”
Which hasn’t deterred residents from saying that love’s in the air … or the water. Gingaskiddy resident Fiona Toomey, once a cleaner in the factor, said, “Even the dogs here have been known to walk around in a state of sexual excitement. I think that Viagra must have got into the water supply. I’m convinced that’s what happened at the very beginning before they were so closely regulated.”
In an official statement to The Sunday Times, a Pfizer spokesperson rose to the occasion and described the stories as “an amusing” myth, saying, “Our manufacturing processes have always been highly sophisticated as well as highly regulated.”
One has to wonder if the rumors were planted by Pfizer itself, since Viagra will soon be made available over the counter in the UK. Meanwhile, at least one of the residents, Debbie O’Gray’s mother Sadie, said, “We’ve been getting the love fumes for years now for free. It’s amazing the number of people who come to this village, perhaps out of curiosity, and then never leave. They settle down here. As they say, there’s something in the air—not that we need it, of course. But for some fellas with problems in that department it can be a blessing.”
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced last week that Viagra Connect will be made available without prescription. Sildenafil will continue to be manufactured at the Ringaskiddy manufacturing facility, guaranteeing residents a hard and long-lasting source of employment and rumors. Viagra Connect will be manufactured in France, which it has long been rumored, has never had problems with romance.
Sadly, Pfizer stocks are a little soft right now, trading currently at $35.56, down slightly from a recent rise of $36.45 on Oct. 11. Overall in 2017, Pfizer shares have risen from a low of $30.94 on Dec. 8, 2016 to its firm October high.
Pfizer also recently announced that Viagra is turning from a little blue pill to a white pill. It is launching its own generic version of Viagra, which will be white. Teva Pharmaceuticals is launching its own Viagra generic, and Pfizer has decided to compete with the generic version. The retail price of Viagra runs about $65 per pill, with the Pfizer white generic selling for about half that. Teva has not disclosed pricing yet.
Viagra was launched in 1998, a welcome alternative to penile injections and implants. In 2003, Eli Lilly came out with its own erectile dysfunction drug, Cialis, which is now the number one in the market with Viagra a close second.
Cialis’ popularity is probably related to the fact it is an on-demand, low-dose daily pill, not to its decidedly puzzling advertising campaign featuring a couple in separate bathtubs in the outdoors.
Demand for over-the-counter and generic versions is expected to be solid. Even strong. Substantial.
Or, you could always move to Ringaskiddy.
