Viagra Creates Chewing Gum To Battle Stiff Competition

Pfizer is working hard to maintain market dominance.

It’s bad etiquette to chew gum on a date. Gum stimulates saliva, causing slushy chewing noises and frequent swallowing. When guys chew gum on a date, it reminds me of boys at middle school dances who were chomping away on Trident, eager for a sloppy tongue kiss. It’s gross. Dinner dates between adults should end with Altoids or on some occasions a toothpick. Not a stick of gum.

But the folks at Pfizer couldn’t agree less. With their chemical patent for Viagra set to expire next year, they’ve started trying out some new branding initiatives. First off: Viagra Jet, a new product with all the rock-hard-boner-making Sildenafil from the Viagra pill, but in a soft, chewy stick of gum.

Pfizer is right to start experimenting with marketing. When the chemical patent expires on March 27, 2012, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is expected to release a generic version that may enter the market at just a fraction of $10/pill price of Viagra. The two companies are already embroiled in a lawsuit over “use” violations, as Pfizer still maintains the soul right to use Viagra to treat impotence.

But Teva aside, competition is already stiff in the $5 billion boner industry.

Bayer’s Levitra has a dissolvable tablet that fizzles when you drop it in water. It comes in a pocket-size, midnight-black box giving it the look of a super-expensive antacid, if such a thing exists. The other competitor, Cialis, offers an every-day pill or a 36-hour “weekender.” It’s competition like this that leads to products like Viagra chewing-gum.

Hank Ketcham of “Dennis the Menace” once said, “Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don’t swallow it.” Well put, Ketcham, well put.

[Via NY Times]