Viagra OTC sales help boost healthcare category by £4.3m

Supermarket sales of Viagra have helped provide a £4.3m boost to the performance of the healthcare category, just three months after coming on to the market, The Grocer can reveal.

The ‘little blue pills’, used by men with erectile dysfunction issues, are marketed as Viagra Connect by Pfizer. They have been available to buy OTC since 27 March, following a reclassification review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in November last year.

The UK was the first country to allow the purchase of the drug off-prescription from local chemists, with supermarket pharmacies at Asda, Tesco and Morrisons among those selling the pills.

According to research by IRI, OTC sales have added an additional £4.3m to the healthcare category in the three-month period.

IRI estimated that if sales continued on the same trajectory, this figure could rise to £16.4m by the end of the year.

Sales of Viagra Connect increased by 60% from March to June 2018, suggesting that more men are becoming increasingly proactive about seeking treatment for the condition.

According to figures from the NHS, around 4.3 million, or one fifth of the UK’s male population, suffer with erectile problems; a condition particularly common in men aged over 40.

Stress, tiredness, anxiety or drinking too much alcohol are said to be contributory factors that can cause male impotence.

“Everything is on the up,” said Chloe Humphreys-Page, head of health and beauty retail solutions at IRI. “Market penetration is increasing and we’re seeing firm growth in the value and unit sales of Viagra since it was made more widely available over the counter.

“In the UK at least, consumers no longer have to visit their GPs to obtain a prescription for what can be a debilitating condition for many men.”

She added: “Greater accessibility to the drug will also allow much quicker access for men seeking treatment without having to resort to purchasing Viagra from dubious sources and unregulated websites. We also expect the healthcare system to benefit from savings in time and money owing to fewer GP visits, while community-based chemists stocking the drug should see increased business.”