Bayer launches orodispersible ED treatment in the UK; hit with gender discrimination suit in USA

Today marks the launch in the UK of German drug major Bayer’s (BAY: DE) Levitra (vardenafil) orodispersible tablet, the first erectile dysfunction treatment available as an orodispersible tablet.

Sales of Levitra in its current presentation grew 19.2% to 429 billion euros ($606.5 million) in 2010, and the drug competes with Pfizer’s blockbuster ED drug Viagra (sildenafil), which saw fourth-quarter sales fall  Viagra 9% to $499 million, impacted by competition from Eli Lilly's longer-acting Cialis (tadalafil), sales of which for the quarter were up 6% to $465.9 million.

In contrast to other drugs of the same class, the new formulation has been designed specifically to be discreet and convenient, dissolving on the tongue within seconds and packaged in a new, unobtrusive, thin black pocket-sized box which is unlike traditional pharmaceutical packaging and also incorporates numerous anti-counterfeiting measures. Currently, there are an estimated 2.3 million men suffering from ED in the UK, yet only one in 10 receive treatment and, according to market research commissioned by Bayer, four in 10 men regard presently available therapies as inconvenient.