Cialis has overtaken Viagra and is on its way to becoming the new name on everyone’s lips having more prescriptions filled than Viagra this year internationally. 5 years after Viagra was launched, Cialis was born and Lily, the eager pharmaceutical company pulled out all the stops at that time in order to help Cialis edge its way in to an already buzzing market. This year sales have increased by 9% on the year before and numbers continue to rise.
Their biggest selling point is the much longer period of duration of Cialis. This means that the effects of Cialis will last 36 hours compared with Viagra’s 4 hour window. Furthermore, Tadalafil (the active ingredient) has other uses and Lily is pushing for it to be sold as a treatment for hypertension in Europe. In the US it is hoping for approval as a drug for prostate enlargement which is often associated with erectile dysfunction.
The question is will the emergence of generic Viagra next year prompt a decline in Cialis sales. For now, ‘Le weekend pill’ is still going strong.