North Carolina Plaintiff Claims Melanoma on Scalp Caused by Viagra

Cleveland County, NCA man from Cleveland County is not happy that his three-year Viagra habit allegedly resulted in a cancerous lesion on his scalp. Willard Hoffman, the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit, is taking Pfizer Inc. to court following his Viagra Skin Cancer Diagnosis, claiming that Pfizer should have disclosed the potential cancer risk. He’s taking Pfizer to task for failure to warn, amongst other claims.

Some studies have dismissed any potential association between Viagra (sildenafil) and viagra melanoma as more of an association to lifestyle. To wit, men who can afford to use Viagra on a regular basis (sildenafil is expensive) tend to have sufficient disposable income to spend inordinate amounts of time in the sun amidst tropical locales and may not be protecting themselves from the harmful rays of the sun. Older men are susceptible to melanomas and are more likely to die from them, according to Harvard Men’s Health Watch (6/5/14).

However, that position pales in comparison to three studies referenced by the Hoffman lawsuit conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2014. According to Hoffman’s suit, those studies found a link between the mechanisms inherent with sildenafil that counteract the effects of erectile dysfunction and the generation of melanocytes - the cells that eventually transform into melanoma.

According to NBC 17 WNCN Raleigh-Durham (10/8/15), the lesion on Hoffman’s scalp was diagnosed as sildenafil melanoma. Hoffman claims that Viagra should have done a better job of warning men who use Viagra of the potential for viagra melanoma and other potential viagra side effects. Awareness of the risk for Viagra Skin Cancer Diagnosis may have prompted men to gravitate toward various other options to fight erectile dysfunction.

Of the two known competitors to Viagra, there has been no reference to the potential for skin cancer as there has with sildenafil melanoma.

Hoffman, according to WNCN, used Viagra on a regular basis between 2011 and 2014. He was unaware of the risk. “Viagra mimics an effect of gene activation and therefore may potentially function as a trigger for the creation of melanoma cells,” Hoffman’s lawsuit says, citing one study published by JAMA Internal Medicine in 2014. According to the lawsuit, the study found that men taking sildenafil were found to have an 84 percent greater risk of developing melanoma.

When contacted by WNCN, Pfizer said “Viagra’s safety and efficacy have been studied in 136 clinical trials and there is no reliable scientific evidence that the medicine causes melanoma. Pfizer stands behind this important medicine and intends to vigorously defend this lawsuit.”

Hoffman seeks various damages in his Viagra Skin Cancer Diagnosis lawsuit, as well as punitive damages. His personal injury lawsuit is Hoffman v. Pfizer, Inc., Case No. 3:2015-cv-00472, filed October 7, 2015 in North Carolina Western District Court.