• by Tanya Gazdik , May 6, 2013

Pfizer, in a first for the pharma industry, will begin selling Viagra direct-to-consumers on its Web site.

A prescription is still needed, but those who are sheepish about needing the help in the bedroom can avoid the drugstore pharmacist. The CVS drugstore chain will take care of processing and fulfillment.

Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one. Without prescription drug coverage, the pills retail for $25 each. As of Feburary 2012, the pill was covered on 65% of insured lives (including Tier 2, Tier 3. Step Edit and PA status), according to Pfizer.

The new delivery method is a cosmic shift for the drug industry's traditional 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 there’s a method to the madness: The company is hoping to beat the unscrupulous online pharmacies at their own game. The ne’er-do-wells have been offering patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don't realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription.

If it works, other drugmakers are likely to follow suit, and will begin selling other medicines that are rampantly counterfeited and sold online -- particularly treatments for non-urgent conditions seen as embarrassing.

Viagra is one of its top drugs, with $2 billion in worldwide revenue last year. And it's the most counterfeited drug in the U.S., according to the company.

A 2011 study, in which Pfizer bought "Viagra" from 22 popular Internet pharmacies and tested the pills, found that 77 percent were counterfeit. Most had half or less of the promised level of the active ingredient.

But there is no such thing as generic Viagra. Pfizer has patents giving it the exclusive right to sell Viagra until 2020 in the U.S. and for many years in other countries.