Pfizer’s little blue pill for erectile dysfunction could get a whole lot cheaper for military men and retirees in the Pentagon’s health system.

On Thursday, Tricare’s Uniform Formulary Beneficiary Advisory Panel will consider a proposal to drop Bayer’s Levitra and Staxyn, currently the only erectile dysfunction pills in Tricare’s formulary, and add Viagra.

The recommendation, made by the Defense Department’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, is based on cost-effectiveness as well as clinical considerations, according to information provided to the advisory panel.

The committee said the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department issued a joint solicitation for erectile dysfunction medications and Viagra was the contract winner.

If the panel approves the recommendation, the changes would take place “the first Wednesday after the start of a 60-day implementation period,” according to the committee.

Those affected by the change would be notified by mail, according to the Pentagon.

The approval would end a six-year hiatus for Viagra in the Tricare formulary. It was stocked by military pharmacies and offered for low cost shares to military beneficiaries until October 2005, when it was dropped as part of an effort to “provide the highest quality medications to beneficiaries while reducing overall costs,” a senior defense official said.

Viagra would be available to those who have a valid prescription and are over age 40, according to information provided to the panel.

Other eligible users would include patients under 40 being treated with medication that causes dysfunction, patients who have had their prostate removed and are suffering from erectile dysfunction, and other conditions.

About 18 million American men suffer from erectile dysfunction, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medicine. Physical causes include heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as well as tobacco and heavy alcohol use; psychological causes include depression, anxiety, stress and fatigue.

If Viagra enters the formulary, users would pay $9 for a 90-day supply through Tricare’s mail order pharmacy and $12 at retail pharmacies for a 30-day supply.

The drug would be dispensed free at military pharmacies.

Cialis and Levitra, which would become non-formulary, would cost $25 both at retail pharmacies and through the mail.