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German health institute warns of Viagra dangers

Germany's health ministry said on Friday 616 people worldwide had died after using Pfizer Inc's Viagra but cautioned against attributing blame for the deaths on the anti-impotence drug.

In a response to a request by a member of parliament, the ministry said the data bank of the Swedish-based Uppsala Monitoring Centre had recorded 616 cases of people who had died after using Viagra. Pfizer was not immediately available for comment.

The German Institute for Pharmaceutical and Medical Products has recorded 77 deaths in the European Union and 30 in Germany, the ministry said. A spokeswoman for the health ministry said she could only comment about the German cases in which she said existing health problems rather than Viagra appeared to be the main cause of death.

"In the 30 German cases the patient died at some time after taking Viagra, usually as a result of a heart or circulation complication," she said.

"You cannot say that these people died because they took Viagra," she said.
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