San Francisco, CA - Despite an April study and a follow-up FDA investigation linking Viagra and other impotence drugs to a rare form of blindness, even the most ardent drug litigators are toning down their excitement over the prospect of successful suits.

Since the April study was announced, only a few firms, mainly from the East Coast, have registered Viagra Web sites. Jennifer Stanich-Banmiller, president of the Danville plaintiff marketing firm Wingtip Communications, said she has so far seen only tepid interest from lawyers. "I don't think it's going to have a lot of steam unless there're lots of people out there" suffering sex drug-related blindness, she said.

One experienced drug litigator has a theory why. "People (plaintiffs' attorneys) feel burned by Viagra because they went after it when it first came out with heart attacks," said a San Francisco plaintiff lawyer who is litigating claims over Vioxx, diet drugs and estrogen therapy. Since those initial suits were largely unsuccessful, she said, many California plaintiff lawyers seem wary of the new charge.

One of the state's most aggressive pharmaceutical lawyers said Viagra's barely on his radar screen. "At least not yet," said a well-known attorney from Newport Beach. "I'm just kind of looking at it." But he nevertheless assumes it'll look pretty good to a plaintiff attorney. "Anytime you get news of a post-market adverse event that is as serious as blindness, heart attack, stroke, the first thing you expect is that the company already knew about the problem," he said.

Potential plaintiffs injured by Viagra are not without help. A well-known Louisiana lawyer last week filed what he believes to be the first Viagra blindness suit in Texas, may be one of the few lawyers who feel California Viagra suits have potential. He says he has at least 92 Viagra clients, including several who plan to file suit in California. "I'm about the biggest game and the only game in the country right now," he said. "Everybody seems to be overloaded by Vioxx."

Another plaintiffs' lawyer says his firm is "extremely busy with Vioxx." But he agrees that because Viagra is linked to a very specific form of blindness, a condition he calls a "signature injury," the cases could have potential. While California lawyers wait to decide whether to pursue Viagra cases, the Louisiana lawyer says his caseload is increasing by the hour. "I'd say they're coming in at a rate of eight to 10 a day," he said, adding that people from all over the country seem concerned. Viagra has been very popular since it first hit the market. Any potential patient would want the drug's benefits, he said. "But not if it's going to make me blind."