Sildenafil citrate is the active ingredient in both Revatio and Viagra, as well as their generic equivalents. Savings-conscious men with erectile dysfunction no longer need to buy generic Revatio now that generic Viagra is widely available in the United States.
Revatio and Viagra, both developed and marketed by Pfizer, share the same active ingredient — sildenafil citrate. The former is prescribed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, a form of high blood pressure that targets the lungs, while the latter is prescribed to treat erectile dysfunction.
Generic alternatives to both these drugs are now available in the United States. The generics’ lower prices — generally about half those of the brand-name drugs — make them available to a much wider audience than ever before.
Generic formulations of Revatio are typically dispensed in tablets of 20 milligrams each, while generic Viagra is available in tablets of 50 and 100 milligrams.
The recommended starting dose for Viagra or its generic equivalent is 50 milligrams. If that fails to produce the desired result, the user can increase his dose to 100 milligrams.
Revatio Went Generic First
The generic version of Revatio hit the market before generic Viagra, so some thrifty Viagra users asked their doctors to prescribe generic Revatio for them so they could save some money. This meant, of course, that the men using generic Revatio to treat ED had to take multiple pills to replicate the effects produced by Viagra.
A man who got by with a 50-milligram tablet of the little blue pill would need two to three of the 20-milligram tablets of generic Revatio to overcome his ED symptoms. And it would take five of the lower-strength generic Revatio tablets to equal the strength of one 100-milligram Viagra tablet.
So while the answer to the substitute question posed by this article is technically yes, it is probably more trouble than it’s worth. The current availability of less expensive generic Viagra makes it inadvisable to substitute multiple tablets of generic Revatio when it’s easy enough to buy dose-specific generic versions of the little blue pill at prices less than half of the brand-name drug.
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