WASHINGTON, USA (AP) – An AIDS organisation yesterday sued Pfizer Inc over ads the group says encourage use of Viagra as a party drug.

The non profit group said such recreational use furthers the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles yesterday by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, calls Pfizer’s ads for the impotence drug false and misleading. The suit echoes allegations made in an ad campaign announced by the group last month.

The not-for-profit group alleges the marketing of Viagra has fostered an increase in the spread of STIs. Studies have found the drug is used illegally in conjunction with crystal methamphetamine to form a party drug “cocktail”.

While crystal meth can heighten sexual desire, it also can impair the ability to have an erection, said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “In order to satisfy that heightened desire, you have to take Viagra,” Weinstein told reporters.

Pfizer denied it promotes the recreational use of its blockbuster drug. In 2005, Pfizer had $860 million (euro665 million) in US Viagra sales, according to IMS Health Inc.

The company said it and a company foundation already support AIDS prevention efforts, including a three-year, $6 million (euro4.6 million) project undertaken in 2003 in nine Southern states.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks to halt the New York-based company from running ads like those that have promoted the drug’s use on New Year’s Eve and other major festival times, said Tom Myers, the AIDS group’s legal counsel.

It also seeks to force Pfizer to undertake a public information campaign on the dangers of misusing and abusing the prescription drug. Furthermore, it seeks an unspecified amount to cover an increase in treatment costs borne by the non-profit group, which runs free treatment clinics.

The advertisements featured younger-looking men than did earlier Viagra ads that used retired Sen Bob Dole, then in his 70s, as a pitchman. Myers said the newer ads imply the drug is meant to enhance the sexual experience and not to treat a medical condition.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation also wants the Food and Drug Administration to step up its oversight of Viagra ads.

An FDA spokeswoman did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.

In 2004, the FDA warned Pfizer that some television ads for Viagra made it clear the drug was for sex but failed to note it was to treat impotence. The ads also failed to provide information on its major side effects, according to the letter.