A man from Arizona has filed suit against Pfizer accusing the company of failing to issue a proper warning about Viagra skin cancer.

Plaintiff Larry S. says he started using Viagra in 2011 and continued to take it under his doctor’s supervision until 2013. In September 2012, he was diagnosed with melanoma.

He says he has since undergone several surgical excisions to remove the melanoma. However, he claims, now that he has had it once, he must vigilantly monitor his skin for new manifestations of cancer.

Larry claims his melanoma was caused by the defective nature of Viagra and the failure of its manufacturer Pfizer Inc. to properly address those characteristics.

He accuses Pfizer of downplaying the risk of Viagra skin cancer in its marketing materials, even though the company was allegedly well aware of the risks.

He also claims the company concealed information about the risk of Viagra skin cancer from potential users of the drug.

Larry says that if he had been properly warned about the possibility of Viagra skin cancer, he would have declined to use the drug and thereby would have avoided increasing his risk of melanoma.

Litigating Claims of Viagra Skin Cancer

The blockbuster erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra was first approved by the FDA in 1998. Since then, sales figures show the drug has been a considerable success.

According to Larry’s Viagra lawsuit, Pfizer’s annual report for 2013 showed sales of Viagra exceeded $1.8 billion dollars, even after the company had lost its exclusive intellectual property rights to the drug throughout Europe that year.

Larry says recent scientific studies have shown that Viagra’s mechanism of action may be associated with the formation or exacerbation of skin cancer.

He cites one study from 2011 that found treatment with Viagra could promote melanoma cell invasion. Researchers allegedly surmised that by inhibiting the PDE5 enzyme, Viagra may trigger the creation of melanoma cells. Another study from 2012 drew a similar conclusion.

A third study cited by Larry was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014. Researchers there found that recent users of sildenafil – Viagra’s generic name – showed an 84 percent greater risk of developing or encouraging invasive melanoma.

Despite this and other research, Larry alleges, Pfizer has failed to adequately address the risk of Viagra skin cancer. He says the company has purposely downplayed the risk of Viagra melanoma and deceived potential Viagra users by relaying overly-positive messaging through the press.

Meanwhile, the drug’s label, packaging and inserts all fail to mention the possibility of Viagra skin cancer, as do the associated online advertisements, television commercials and print advertisements.

Larry accuses the company of actively concealing material information about the allegedly “defective and dangerous” nature of Viagra from the drug’s users and their physicians.

Larry’s Viagra lawsuit brings claims for defective design, failure to warn, failure to test, negligence, breach of warranty, fraud and deceit, misrepresentation and concealment and violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.

He seeks an award of actual and punitive damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Larry’s Viagra Skin Cancer Lawsuit is filed within the larger Viagra multidistrict litigation In Re: Viagra (Sildenfil Citrate) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2691, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.