Is Viagra Vulnerable?

Paula Garrett knew she had a winner a year ago. The marketing executive for Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY ) was gauging consumer reaction to a yet-to-be released drug aimed at treating erectile dysfunction. The lights went back on in a conference room where three women had been viewing a prospective TV commercial for the drug, which Lilly had dubbed Cialis. The focus-group members, whose husbands all suffered from impotence, had watched attentively as a male voice-over gently advised: "Introducing Cialis. You can take Cialis anytime and have up to 36 hours to respond to your partner, without planning or rushing." As Garrett observed from the other side of a one-way mirror, the group's moderator tried to suss out the main source of the women's interest. "Tell me specifically," she asked. "What is it you like about Cialis?"

Suddenly, one of the women leaped out of her chair. She was about 60 years old and seemed as straitlaced as a Sunday school teacher. "Thirty-six hours!" she whooped, raising her arms like she was doing the wave at a ballgame. "Yeah!"