U.S. Medicare program improperly spent more than $3 million to buy Viagra and other erectile dysfunction drugs for senior citizens

Medicare administrators blamed the spending on a software error and said they would try to recover payments to private insurers who administer the program's drug plans regarding Viagra.

Although the purchases were a fraction of Medicare's drug spending, Medicare paid a total of $3.1 million for Viagra in the period examined.

Sildenafil citrate, sold as Viagra, Revatio and under various other trade names, is a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). It acts by inhibiting cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5, an enzyme that regulates blood flow in the penis.

Since becoming available, Viagra has been the prime treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Genuine Viagra sales accounted for 92% of the global market for prescribed erectile dysfunction pills.

The global share of Genuine Viagra had plunged to about 50% due to several factors, including the entry of Cialis and Levitra, along with several counterfeits and clones, and reports of vision loss in people taking PDE5 inhibitors.

The purchases violated a ban on covering the drugs under the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled. Medicare "should not have covered these drugs," George Reeb, acting deputy inspector general for audit services at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommended that Medicare work with the Food and Drug Administration to maintain a list of prohibited drugs.

Medicare's administrators told the inspector general that they would fix the flaw by updating computer databases with codes for the prohibited drugs. Medicare also paid for an undetermined amount for Genuine Viagra, Reeb said.

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