Firstmed Blog

It emerged last week that Pfizer, the manufacturers of super drug Viagra have been sending vast quantities of spam email over the past six months. Pfizer is a pretty big drug manufacturer is it not? Then why have they been hawking Viagra and fake Rolex watches through their email network?

Well apparently they didn’t know about it.

At least 138 of Pfizer’s IP addresses were infected by Malware, which instructed them to send out spam on behalf a very ingenious hacker that had penetrated their systems. Aside from Viagra, the spam advertises penis-enlargement drugs, fake Rolexes and shares. According to botnet-tracking company Support Intelligence, those IP addresses have now been blacklisted by anti-spam companies. Support Intelligence has saved 600 sample spam emails over the past six months, and contacted Pfizer about the problem.

There have been implications in the press that Pfizer haven’t done anything about it because the spamming campaign is of benefit to them. I disagree. Spam is an annoyance. It takes longer and longer to sift through the stuff to see if there’s something trapped that shouldn’t be. Or, reviewing what’s in your inbox for something there that should have been trapped. Spam costs hundreds of pounds per year per employee in lost productivity and higher computing bills. While home computer users are at risk from emails that ask them to reveal their bank details, a practice known as phishing. Spam represents for most people, one of the principal instruments of dodgy business practices and of illegal communication in the modern age. Why would a large multi-national company want any association with it?

Police in New Jersey in the United States have arrested several people in a crackdown on the illegal trading of prescription drugs, including the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra

The arrests, in Perth Amboy, took place following a tip off by a local doctor who claimed drug sales were occurring in a number of stores which did not have permits to operate as pharmacies, NJ.com reports.

Undercover police officers managed to purchase Viagra in seven shops in the area and they arrested ten individuals including store owners and employees.

Perth Amboy Police chief Michael Kohut highlighted the dangers associated with the illegal sale of drugs like Viagra. He told NJ.com: “There’s a need for qualified doctors to prescribe these drugs to make sure people are getting the right stuff.”

Meanwhile a medicine company in New Hampshire has pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic counterfeit Cialis tablets, which are subscribed to men suffering with impotence.

Fake erectile dysfunction drugs often have no clinical effects at all but some can contain substances which can be harmful to health.

Pfizer, the company behind the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, has announced that it is close its manufacturing plant in Sandwich, Kent.

The company claims that the decision has been taken to consolidate its global manufacturing operations in order to “efficiently” meet demand for its products.

Tony Maddaluna, vice president of Pfizer Global Manufacturing, said it is with “regret” that the company has chosen to close operations in the region after more than 50 years.

“This is the latest in a number of global manufacturing changes, to ensure we are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible and able to respond to the challengers of today’s business environment,” he explained.

According to the Independent, Viagra was first tested as a medicine for people suffering angina by scientists in Wales.

Having discovered that it could have potential benefits for men experiencing erectile dysfunction, Pfizer applied for marketing approval for the drug, which has now been used by over 30 million men worldwide.