Pfizer wants to sell Viagra to you without you having to go to your doctor to get a prescription first. Sorry Yanks—this only applies to our friends that live in the United Kingdom, but this is absolutely of interest to us Americans because of Pfizer’s history with misleading public information campaigns surrounding sildenafil citrate (the generic name for Viagra). Those campaigns scare people from lower-cost Viagra available online.

But why? The per pill cost of Viagra today is as high as $75/100 mg pill. That’s $450 for just six pills! If you look hard, you can find it for just under $60 at your local U.S. pharmacy. In Canada, it’s as low as about $11; New Zealand about $9. Compare Viagra prices available online from pharmacies that do require your prescription.

Now that you understand Pfizer’s financial interest in trying to make sure Americans buy locally, let’s talk about prescription requirements and Viagra.

Pfizer has spent considerable sums of money fighting online sales of Viagra in the name of protecting patients from getting counterfeit drugs and has warned consumers not to buy it without a prescription. That media narrative scares men from buying lower-cost, genuine Viagra online. This includes from online pharmacies that do require a valid prescription. I’ve told this Viagra truth before.

But where does Pfizer really stand on the prescription requirement?

It’s true, buying prescription drugs online can be dangerous if the patient is not under the supervision of a licensed provider – even for Viagra, which is why a prescription should be required. If you take nitrates or have a heart condition, among other things, Viagra can be dangerous. But, back in 2008, while Pfizer was funding scare campaigns, such as the NABP’s Internet Drug Identification Outlet Program, which identifies any online pharmacy that sells to the U.S. from Canada as “not recommended,” it was trying to get pharmacies in the European Union to sell Viagra without a prescription. It failed because, according to EU regulators and the Mayo clinic, erectile dysfunction could be the result of serious medical conditions, such as diabetes and obesity. If a doctor is not consulted before purchasing it, a serious illness might go ignored.

In March of this year, Pfizer tried again. Maybe Pfizer executives figured that after Brexit the UK might be feeling a little more independent of Europe and therefore willing to strike out on its own on Viagra. Also, this time around, the plan was to make the drug available as a Pharmacy Medicine (PM) in the UK, which means that a pharmacist consultation would be necessary to determine if the patient could buy the drug without going to the doctor. The plan outlines that the non-prescription strength would be 50 mg and the product marketed under the generic name, sildenafil citrate, although it would be under Pfizer’s marketing license.

I believe they will try to play the same hand in the U.S. before too long. You can bet, if they are successful, they will spend millions of dollars advertising.

“Hey, guys, get your Viagra without a prescription. The FDA says you don’t need one after all!”

In the meantime, if you do have a valid prescription, and can’t afford 75 bucks a pill, there are verified international online pharmacies that sell Pfizer’s Viagra at a fraction of the U.S. price.