Wrigley may create gum with sex appeal
Move over Viagra, Levitra and Cialis. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. may someday chew its way into the market for erectile dysfunction remedies, but not any time soon.
In November 2000, Wrigley applied for a patent to use chewing gum as an alternate method to administer sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra. Last year, the media caught wind of the patent, and at least two publications hailed the news with references to Wrigley's "double your pleasure, double your fun" slogan.
But Wrigley -- which two years ago made a bid to acquire Hershey Foods Corp. -- wouldn't be able to enter the impotency-drug market until at least 2011, when Pfizer Inc.'s patent for Viagra expires.
"We are neither selling nor do we have any products in development that would use that ingredient," Wrigley spokeswoman Kelly McGrail said yesterday. She called the patent for using gum as a means to deliver sildenafil citrate "an element of a much broader patent."
Still, Wrigley did not rule out the possibility of developing chewing gum as a means to deliver a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction. Full Story...
