According to the Financial Times, GlaxoSmithKline unexpectedly handed back the development rights to Futura’s erectile dysfunction gel, a sample of which is shown on the left (just kidding! See story here.)
“The drug, which has completed Phase II trials, would have been an alternative to Viagra, the current market leader developed by Pfizer.”
“We are not going to progress on this particular compound for normal commercial reasons which we do not wish to go into,” GSK said.
Let me guess why this gel, if it were developed, may not be a commercial success. A gel may have some utility among solo sexual aficionados who would benefit from the gel’s dual action as an penile enhancer and a lubricant, but I imagine things could get a bit sloppy during normal male-female bilateral sexual encounters.
Obviously DTC ads could not be targeted to the solo sex male practitioner — it just wouldn’t fly in Peoria (or Congress).
