Viagra promotion may fall foul of the law

The makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra have hired a former actor and talk-show host to promote the medicine, days after a report that a rival pill would soon be available.

But the recruitment of David Lo Tai-wai, 55, may run into trouble from regulators because the advertising of prescription drugs is banned.

Manufacturers Pfizer said Lo - whose nickname 'Wai Goh' (Brother Wai) sounds the same as the Chinese name for Viagra - would appear in posters at private doctors' clinics.

Group product manager Roger Li Long-tin said the company had not decided whether the name Viagra would be mentioned in the posters, but the company's name would appear.

He denied Pfizer was trying to promote the product because of possible competition from a new drug called Uprima, developed by American company TAP Pharmaceuticals.

'This is an educational campaign. We would go ahead with it under whatever circumstances, as we do with our other products,' Mr Li said.