Argentine province to produce Viagra for free distribution

Buenos Aires, March 23 (IANS/EFE) The government of the central Argentine province of Santa Fe will manufacture the drug sildenafil, better known under the brandname Viagra, and will distribute it free to males with erectile dysfunction.

The drug will be manufactured in the state-run Pharmaceutical Industrial Laboratory and distributed "under strict medical prescription" in public hospitals, provincial Health Minister Miguel Cappiello told the media.

He said that the laboratory is working to produce pills for adults suffering from erectile dysfunction and a syrup to treat children suffering from pulmonary hypertension.

"They're moving forward on the trials to produce sildenafil, which will be distributed free among those who need it, to deal with different conditions within the framework of the public policies on the production of medications," he said.

Cappiello went on to say that the decision to produce sildenafil arose "in the face of the need to have a medicinal (approach) to treat paediatric pulmonary hypertension".

"Simultaneously, they're developing the formula for sildenafil, 50 mg in pill form, usually prescribed for erectile dysfunction," he added.

The minister insisted that the distribution of Viagra "will be free and under obligatory medical prescription" and that "other provinces" in the country are interested in buying the drug from Santa Fe to foster similar policies.

--IANS/EFE

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