(HealthDay) -- Microsoft's Bill Gates has invested some of his money in a biotech company that plans to market a competitor to Viagra, reports CNNfn.
Gates owns 10 percent of Icos Corp., of Bothwell, Wash., a company that has teamed with Eli Lilly & Co. to produce Cialis, a drug that reportedly works quicker and lasts longer than Viagra to correct erectile dysfunction. Viagra, made by Pfizer, now has a virtual lock on the market with annual sales of $1.3 billion, says the report. The new drug is in testing trials and is expected to be marketed by the end of 2002.
Viagra's success has prompted dozens of imitators, including a number of herbal remedies whose questionable claims have caught the attention of U.S. regulators.
