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Whether it is due to old age or to certain physical health conditions, some men might reach the point where they need an extra boost in the bed. Since most men might not want to talk about erectile dysfunction, physically acquiring the pills that can help improve a couple's sex life can be slightly embarrassing as well. Due to these factors, Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company, has announced that it would start an online shop allowing men to purchase their little blue pills via the Internet. The pill, Viagra, would still need to be prescribed, but at least, the shop provides men a more private way of attaining it.

The website, Viagra.com, is one of the first ventures into online pharmacies that would allow the direct purchase of drugs between a pharmaceutical company and patients. Pharmaceutical companies today sell their drugs in bulk to pharmacies, which then provide these drugs to patients. This new online method would bypass pharmacies completely. On top of changing the distribution method, Pfizer is offering a deal for people who fill out their prescriptions directly with the company's new website. The company reported that customers would receive three free pills with their first order and then 30 percent off their second order. One Viagra pill costs around $25. Since this method is still very new, several other drug companies, as well as pharmacies, wait to see if it will be effective.

"If it works, everybody will hop on the train," a health care strategist with Poliwogg, Les Funtleyder, said.

The online sales method, if it works, will hopefully help with the problem of fake online pharmacies. Within the industry, there are several companies that produce fake drugs and sell them at a much cheaper price tag via the Internet. These fake pharmacies also do not require prescriptions, which entice many people to buy from them. These drugs are not tested and are most likely ineffective. Since there has not been any real online pharmacies sourced from the actual drug making company, to combat the fake ones, some consumers never realize that these drugs are counterfeited and possibly life threatening. The introduction of real online pharmacies would provide a good contrast between legitimate drugs and fake ones. In a recent study done by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, there are about 10,275 online pharmacies and only 257 were discovered to have real drugs.

In 2011, a study found that 77 percent of supposed Viagra pills that came from 22 online pharmacies were counterfeited. This study, which was headed by Pfizer, stated that the majority of the drugs had half or less than half of the levels of the active ingredient used to make Viagra work. Since many of these drugs are marketed as Viagra or "generic" Viagra, which does not exist, customers who are not helped by the drug might think that Pfizer's Viagra pill is ineffective.

The new online pharmacy will hopefully draw people away from these fake websites.