Now you can buy Viagra online (this is not spam)

How often do you purge your spam of erectile dysfunction remedies? Viagra is, after all, the most commonly faked prescription drug in the world.

Now, drug giant Pfizer is setting up an online ordering system for Viagra to counter the widespread fraudulent sale of online counterfeits, Wall Street Journal reports.

There are nearly 24 million searches for Viagra online every year. Of 1,000 men surveyed, 36 percent would make an online purchase, but 82 percent can’t determine the legitimacy of online pharmacies.

Starting this week, the pill can be bought from the maker itself on the official Viagra website.

By offering access to a legitimate product, Pfizer hopes to rein in the distribution of fakes – wringing sales from illegitimate rivals who keep all proceeds and rob the company of billions annually.

In 2011, Pfizer Global Security analyzed blue pills ordered from the top 22 search results for “buy Viagra.” About 80 percent were counterfeits, and while they contained the active ingredient (sildenafil citrate), the amount was 30 to 50 percent of what’s advertised.

Online buyers are "playing Russian roulette," Pfizer says. Fakes may contain toxic heavy metals, lead paint and printer ink. Not only is that dangerous, AP reports, but people end up blaming the company's product, since it’s virtually impossible to pick out fakes.

CVS Caremark will be handling the orders -- making it the second time Pfizer has worked with a pharmacy to sell directly to consumers. (Lipitor was first.)

This company-sponsored approach makes good business sense but it’s a departure from how prescription drugmakers typically distribute. AP explains:

Pfizer's bold move upends the drug industry's distribution model. Drugmakers don't sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices. But the world's second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry.

There’s another advantage, NPR explains: men who are embarrassed about going into a pharmacy to fill a Viagra prescription won't have to

Other major drugmakers will be watching Pfizer's move closely.

[press release via WSJ, AP]

Image: Robert S. Donovan via Flickr

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com