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2003-06-18 - 5:39 p.m.

I'm reading: Wired Magazine

I'm listening to: X: "The Once Over Twice"

Quote O' The Day: Graham Green: "People who like quotations love meaningless generalizations"

The Wrigley company has secured a patent for Viagra gum. But since Pfizer, the Viagra creator, has eight years left on their patent, the maker of Double-Mint and Juicy Fruit gum has no immediate plans to market Viagra gum.

"There's been no development activity whatsoever nor is any anticipated at present," Christopher Perille, a Wrigley spokesman, said. He did not rule out the possibility that Chicago-based Wrigley might reconsider that decision in about eight years, when Pfizer's Viagra patent runs out.

The patent application, filed in November 2000, was simply one of many patents that Wrigley routinely seeks for products that might eventually be a hit with consumers, Perille said.

"We file dozens of patents on an annual basis with interesting or intriguing concepts," he said. "But there's a huge difference between filing for a patent and actually developing a product and finding one that's exactly right for commercialization."

According to Wrigley's patent application, the gum formulation is effective when it is chewed for at least two minutes. The gum would contain 5 milligrams to 100 milligrams of the active ingredient, sildenafil citrate.

The gum would have to be chewed at least 30 minutes before sex, also similar to the Viagra time parameters.

The application also suggests that gum might be a better vehicle to deliver the drug to the bloodstream, since it releases the drug more gradually than Viagra's pill form, which has caused gastrointestinal problems for some men.

Pfizer's patent on Viagra, a tremendously successful drug, doesn't expire until 2011. Wrigley could not sell its gum until after that point, when generic versions of the drug can be also marketed.

Source: Wired

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