As a title to an article, this may not look very exciting, but there's a real problem to talk about. We need to start with the latest profit figures announced by the three pharmaceutical companies that manufacture erectile dysfunction drugs. They have all announced big increases in profits. We live in a capitalist society so the mere fact of profits is not unusual. But we are not talking about a few million dollars. We are talking about hundreds of millions. Now this is not money somehow plucked out of the air. All this money has come from you, the paying customers. This may be direct. You went to your doctor, got a prescription and paid the retail price to your neighborhood drugstore. Or indirect because you carry some form of health insurance and the plan paid for the drugs. Except, of course, you pay for the plan through premiums or accept the benefit of the plan as part of your remuneration at work. However you look at it, you pay for those drugs. So why worry?

One of the pressures that comes from the current recession is the need to save money wherever possible. In the case of must-have drugs, the easiest way to save money is to buy online. There are no accurate figures available, but there's little doubt the number of erectile dysfunction drugs sold through the internet has been rising steadily over the last two years. Yet at a time when we are seeing more money spent on advertising these drugs on television and in the media generally, the US profits are rising. Remember, the US manufacturers do not supply the online pharmacies. They all buy from offshore manufacturers who charge rather less for the drugs. So the US manufacturers are making more money from a decreasing number of men?

This is where we get into unknown territory. There's no accurate count of the number of men who suffer erectile dysfunction. It's just too embarrassing a problem for many and they will avoid admitting it to a doctor who might write it into their medical records. It's possible more men are now prepared to visit with their doctors, but the more likely explanation is cost-cutting by the manufacturers and quiet price increases. The remaining question is whether extracting more money from fewer men would be a bad thing.

Levitra has consistently been found the most powerful of the three erectile dysfunction drugs. When the other two give up, the third will give you some response. In older men, this is particularly important. We now live in a culture when our seniors expect to be able to stay sexually active for longer. Yet the medical evidence shows an increasing number of men lose sexual power as they age. All three drugs maintain sexual activity but the power of Levitra is demonstrated in the clinical trials dealing with the consequences of surgery for prostate cancer. This is an older man's problem and this drug routinely restores sexual activity even though the surgery may have been quite radical. In such cases, you cannot put a value on a drug. You just pay to restore the activity.