¹Department of Urology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

Correspondence: Dr M Singh, Department of Urology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44112, USA. E-mail: singhuro@yahoo.com

Received 21 June 2007; Accepted 26 July 2007; Published online 6 September 2007.

Abstract

The National Veterans Administration (VA) changed its formulary agent for the treatment of erectile dysfunction from sildenafil to vardenafil in January 2006 for economic reasons. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of this formulary change on the patients at a local VA hospital. All non-formulary requests for sildenafil between January 2006 and September 2006 were reviewed. A total of 169 non-formulary requests were made for sildenafil while 7657 patients filled vardenafil prescriptions. Overall, the formulary change from sildenafil to vardenafil appeared to be well tolerated by the vast majority of patients at this local VA hospital. The substantial cost savings to the VA seem to be justified by the minimal adverse effects on men treated for erectile dysfunction.