Boots 'selling' Viagra

[N.T]

See this link:

Dr Petra Boynton I Blog I Piloting pharmacy prescriptions of Viagra – whilst the media foams at the mouth

The point that really bugs me is that she refers to 'Boots advisors' selling Viagra - with no mention that these people are PHARMACISTS WITH FIVE YEARS WORTH OF TRAINING.

Note that she is not a medical doctor (see 'About me' section).

Unfortunately there seems to be no contact details for her to respond to her article.

[Steve G]

try info@drpetra.co.uk

At the start of the article she does refer to pharmacists:

The pharmacy is running a pilot study of three branches of Boots in Manchester. The drug will be available to men after a check up from a pharmacist (involving a blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose level test). If the pharmacist finds they fit the criteria for the drug they’ll be able to purchase four tablets for £50. After this, if men want to continue having the drug they can pay £37.50 to see a private doc and have a full medical exam before being allowed any more tablets. The pilot is open to men aged 30-65 and boots claim only 10% of the 3 million men in the UK who they think have erectile dysfunction are currently being treated.

It's only later on that she refers to 'Boots advisors'

I do agree with the general gist of the article - erectile dysfunction is often indicative of other conditions and the first supply should be from your GP.

There are other irritating inaccuracies in the article though:

Boots’ involvement in previous pilots
It’s interesting that Boots have decided to pilot this particular drug rather than trial other ones. They have participated in a chlamydia testing pilot – which we’re still awaiting results on. Anecdotal feedback from that pilot suggested Boots weren’t massively keen on it since it didn’t give them the chance to sell much to customers. There were plans a while ago that Boots would advise on and sell sex toys but this was dropped because of a lot of media fuss and criticism. In the past Boots have refused to allow women the chance to get small amounts of antibiotics to treat cystitis from pharmacists even though the women know this works for them. The pharmacy has also steadfastly refused to stock speculums for women to carry out gynaecological self-exams (on the grounds of hygiene) and won’t let you get hormonal contraception from them without a prescription from your doc (although this may change soon). So clearly Boots have had opportunities to stock a number of sex-related products but they’re very selective on which ones they choose to pilot and promote. As a business they clearly go for the products that are not overly controversial but do bring in the most business.

Erm, the decision about whether something is available OTC is down to MHRA, not Boots. So it's not big bad boots deciding to make women suffer and have the inconvience of seeing their GP or nurse. Trimethoprim OTC would be quite useful and embraced by pharmacy bodies. As for contraceptives, I don't really see any market for it. Women get it free of charge at present and often only see their GP or practice nurse once a year for a checkup.