Is Levitra discontinued?

Yes, at every strength. Drugs@FDA, queried on 2026-09-20, holds NDA 021400 — LEVITRA (vardenafil hydrochloride), sponsor Bayer HealthCare — with four products on it, 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, and every one of the four has marketing status "Discontinued". The orally-disintegrating brand STAXYN (NDA 200179) is discontinued as well. It matters why: each strength is annotated "Federal Register determination that product was not discontinued or withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons", the FDA's formal record that the product left the market for commercial reasons and that generic copies may continue. Vardenafil the molecule is still marketed as a generic at the same strengths. Levitra the brand is not.

Why does this page quote a generic label for vardenafil?

Because there is no current LEVITRA label to quote. A DailyMed query for LEVITRA returns 4 Structured Product Labels and every one is a repackager copy — Aphena Pharma Solutions – Tennessee, Inc. (three) and Physicians Total Care, Inc. (one) — at spl_version 1, published in October 2010 and October 2011. Reading one end to end, its headings are DESCRIPTION, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, INDICATIONS AND USAGE, WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION and HOW SUPPLIED. There are no numbered sections, no Highlights of Prescribing Information and no Dosage Forms and Strengths section, and it still carries "Pregnancy Category B", a classification the FDA's Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule retired. Quoting a dosage figure from that document as though it were the current label would be quoting a document that has not been maintained for over a decade. Every vardenafil figure here is from the current-format VARDENAFIL tablet, film coated label from Zydus Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. instead, and the rows say so.

Which is best — Viagra, Cialis or Levitra?

For a reader today the question has two live answers rather than three, because Levitra cannot be prescribed. Between Viagra and Cialis the documented difference is duration: Viagra's label records an effect "for up to 4 hours"; Cialis's records improved erectile function against placebo "up to 36 hours following dosing". Cialis additionally has no food effect, a licensed once-daily regimen and a BPH indication, none of which Viagra has. Viagra's advantages are the mirror image — it is out of your system faster, and it carries no 48-hour nitrate exclusion window. The one thing no source supports is a ranking by strength: the ENDOTRIAL crossover study, which tested all three of these molecules, reported "An overall equivalence was demonstrated in the subjective perception of treatment benefits for all the PDE5i tested.", and the AUA guideline found the differences between dose groups "extremely small, rarely statistically significant, and generally not clinically significant".

Is 20 mg of Levitra the same as 100 mg of Viagra?

No source says so, and the arithmetic behind the claim falls apart on inspection. The circulating ratios come from reading the labelled ladders across each other — sildenafil is 25, 50 and 100 mg and tadalafil is 5, 10 and 20 mg, exactly 0.2× at every rung — which is companies picking round numbers, not a measurement of potency. Apply the same method to tadalafil and vardenafil and you get 1 : 1, despite terminal half-lives of 17.5 hours and approximately 4 to 5 hours, which nobody believes. And the published equivalence figures disagree with each other: two sources put vardenafil at 5× and 10× sildenafil, a factor of 2 apart, and neither cites anything. If you are switching, the new drug's own labelled starting dose is the only number a label will give you.

Is generic vardenafil cheaper than generic Viagra or Cialis?

No — it is much dearer, and this is the part that surprises people. In the CMS NADAC file dated 2026-09-16, which records what retail community pharmacies reported paying on invoice, generic sildenafil 50 mg is $0.10577 a tablet and generic tadalafil 10 mg is $0.15748. Generic vardenafil 10 mg is $1.91 — about 18.1× the sildenafil tablet and 12.2× the tadalafil one. The same file has no branded vardenafil row at all. None of these figures is a retail price, a cash price or a copay; NADAC is an acquisition floor with no dispensing fee, markup, consultation or shipping in it.

Can I take any of these with nitrates?

No. This is the one line on the page that is not a trade-off. All three labels carry it as an absolute contraindication in section 4, and the wording leaves no room: Viagra's says its administration to patients using nitric oxide donors "such as organic nitrates or organic nitrites in any form either regularly and/or intermittently is therefore contraindicated". All four labels contraindicate concomitant use with organic nitrates or nitric oxide donors in any form — nitroglycerin, isosorbide mononitrate or dinitrate, and amyl or butyl nitrite "poppers". A PDE5 inhibitor taken with a nitrate can drop blood pressure to a dangerous level. Guanylate cyclase stimulators such as riociguat are contraindicated on all four labels as well. Where the three differ is only in what they say about an emergency afterwards. Cialis names an interval — at least 48 hours. Viagra says "After patients have taken VIAGRA, it is unknown when nitrates, if necessary, can be safely administered." Vardenafil says "A suitable time interval following dosing of vardenafil for the safe administration of nitrates or nitric oxide donors has not been determined." Two of those are admissions of ignorance, not permissions. If you take one of these and then get chest pain, the paramedics need to know what you took and when.

Does Cialis really last 36 hours?

The label says: "CIALIS for use as needed was shown to improve erectile function compared to placebo up to 36 hours following dosing." Read what kind of number that is. It is an efficacy window — how long after a single dose the drug was still beating placebo on an erectile-function score in a trial — not a promise about any individual evening, and emphatically not a 36-hour erection. An erection lasting more than four hours is an emergency on all of these labels. Viagra's window is documented in the same form and is much shorter, and its own label adds that at 4 hours "the response was diminished compared to 2 hours", so both are front-loaded. What the longer window reliably buys is the end of planning. What it costs is the 48-hour nitrate exclusion, which the shorter-acting drug does not impose.

Head to head

Viagra vs Cialis vs Levitra

Levitra is not a choice any more. Drugs@FDA lists all four strengths as discontinued and there is no current LEVITRA label to read. What is left is a two-horse brand race and a third molecule that survives only as a generic.

Reviewed September 2026

The short answer

Start with the one nobody tells you. NDA 021400 — LEVITRA (vardenafil hydrochloride), Bayer HealthCare — holds four products, 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, and Drugs@FDA gives every one of them the marketing status "Discontinued". Its orally-disintegrating sibling STAXYN (NDA 200179) is discontinued too. This was not a safety withdrawal: each strength carries the annotation "Federal Register determination that product was not discontinued or withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons", which is the FDA's formal way of recording that generics may continue. Viagra (NDA 020895) and Cialis (NDA 021368) are both still "Prescription". So of the three brands in the question, two can be prescribed and one cannot.

That is also why Levitra is in the basis column of the table below rather than in a column of its own. There is no current LEVITRA label to fill a column from. DailyMed returns 4 LEVITRA Structured Product Labels and all 4 are repackager copies — Aphena Pharma Solutions – Tennessee, Inc. (three) and Physicians Total Care, Inc. (one) — published in 2010 and 2011, in the pre-2015 format: DESCRIPTION, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, no numbered sections, no Dosage Forms and Strengths section, and a "Pregnancy Category B" classification the FDA has since retired. Every vardenafil figure on this page therefore comes from the current-format generic label, and each row says so.

Between the two that are left, the documented difference is enormous and it is the same one the molecule labels state: Viagra's documents an effect "for up to 4 hours", Cialis's documents improved erectile function against placebo "up to 36 hours following dosing". Cialis is also the only one of the three with a licensed once-daily regimen, the only one with a benign prostatic hyperplasia indication, and the only one whose absorption is "not influenced by food". Viagra's peak is pushed back a full hour and cut by 29% by a high-fat meal.

What this page will not tell you is how many milligrams of one equal how many of another. No label, guideline or trial states a conversion. No FDA label for any of the four PDE5 inhibitors states a dose equivalence with any other, and no published trial establishes one. Twenty milligrams of tadalafil is not "equal to" 100 mg of sildenafil in any labelled or trial sense. The only dose a label will give you for a drug is that drug's own.

And if "Levitra" is in your search because you were hoping for a cheaper option, the arithmetic has gone the other way. In the CMS NADAC file dated 2026-09-16, generic vardenafil 10 mg is $1.91 a tablet — about 18.1× the price of generic sildenafil 50 mg and 12.2× the price of generic tadalafil 10 mg. The brand that vanished is also the molecule whose generic never became pennies.

3 of 16 dimensions are materially the same. They are marked below rather than dressed up as differences.

Viagra

sildenafil citrate · NDA 020895

Still marketed at 25, 50 and 100 mg. Taken about an hour before, with an effect documented to four hours and the largest food effect of the three.

Dosing protocol →

Cialis

tadalafil · NDA 021368

Still marketed at 5, 10 and 20 mg. Effect documented to 36 hours, no food effect at all, and the only one of the three with a licensed once-daily regimen and a BPH indication.

Dosing protocol →

Side by side

Every row carries how well supported it is. A claim that only reflects common practice is labelled as such rather than presented as fact.

Dimension	Viagra	Cialis	Basis
Can the brand still be prescribed?	Yes — 25, 50, 100 mg, all "Prescription"	Yes — 5, 10, 20 mg; the 2.5 mg product is "Discontinued"	literatureLevitra: no. Drugs@FDA holds NDA 021400 (Bayer HealthCare) with all four strengths — 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg — at marketing status "Discontinued", each annotated "Federal Register determination that product was not discontinued or withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons". STAXYN, the orally-disintegrating vardenafil brand (NDA 200179), is discontinued as well. Cialis's discontinued 2.5 mg is the reason its own labelled once-daily starting dose is only dispensable as a generic.
Is there a current label to read?same	Yes — current format, numbered sections	Yes — current format, numbered sections	labelLevitra: no. DailyMed returns 4 LEVITRA SPLs, all repackager copies — Aphena Pharma Solutions – Tennessee, Inc. (three) and Physicians Total Care, Inc. (one) — at version 1, published October 2010 and October 2011. Their headings are DESCRIPTION, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, INDICATIONS AND USAGE, WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION, HOW SUPPLIED: no numbered sections, no Highlights, no Dosage Forms and Strengths, and "Pregnancy Category B", a classification the Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule retired. Every vardenafil quote below is from the current-format VARDENAFIL tablet, film coated label, Zydus Pharmaceuticals USA Inc..
Duration of effect	up to 4 hours	up to 36 hours	labelLevitra: not stated. The vardenafil label makes no duration-of-effect claim at all; its terminal half-life is "approximately 4 to 5 hours", and a half-life is not a duration. Cialis, verbatim: "CIALIS for use as needed was shown to improve erectile function compared to placebo up to 36 hours following dosing." That is an efficacy window against placebo, not a 36-hour erection, and Viagra's label adds that at 4 hours "the response was diminished compared to 2 hours".
Dose equivalence between themsame	Not stated on the label	Not stated on the label	labelLevitra: also not stated — no label mentions another PDE5 inhibitor, a conversion or a switch. The circulating ratio is the labelled ladders read across each other: 25, 50 and 100 mg against 5, 10 and 20 mg, 0.2× at every rung. The same reading makes tadalafil and vardenafil 1 : 1 despite half-lives of 17.5 hours and 4 to 5. That is arithmetic on packaging.
Labelled as-needed range	25–100 mg	5–20 mg	labelLevitra: 5–20 mg, starting at 10 mg — "For most patients, the recommended starting dose of vardenafil is 10 mg, taken orally, as needed, approximately 60 minutes before sexual activity." Its 2.5 mg tablet is stocked for dose reduction with CYP3A4 inhibitors and is never offered as an ED starting dose. A milligram figure is only meaningful for the drug whose own label states it.
When to take it	approximately 1 hour before	median 2 hr to peak	labelLevitra: "For most patients, the recommended starting dose of vardenafil is 10 mg, taken orally, as needed, approximately 60 minutes before sexual activity." — a dosage-section instruction, like Viagra's. Cialis's is not the same kind of figure: its dosage section gives no lead time at all, only "prior to anticipated sexual activity", so the number shown is a median time to peak. None of the three labels states an onset of action.
Food effect	A high-fat meal pushes the peak back a full hour and cuts it by 29% — the largest food effect of the four.	None. The label states absorption is not influenced by food at all.	labelLevitra: "Two food-effect studies were conducted which showed that high-fat meals caused a reduction in Cmax by 18% to 50%." — a fall in peak concentration with no delay to the peak stated, so that half of the cell stays empty rather than being filled from a secondary source. Cialis, verbatim: "The rate and extent of absorption of tadalafil are not influenced by food; thus CIALIS may be taken with or without food."
Licensed once-daily regimen	None on the label	2.5 mg daily, may increase to 5 mg	labelLevitra: none. Cialis, verbatim: "The recommended starting dose of CIALIS for once daily use is 2.5 mg, taken at approximately the same time every day, without regard to timing of sexual activity." It is the only one of the three with a regimen that does not require deciding in advance, and the only one of the four US PDE5 inhibitors with one at all.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia indication	No	Yes — 5 mg once daily	labelLevitra: no. Only the tadalafil label carries a second indication, which is why a man with both conditions is usually given it. The same label warns that CIALIS "is not recommended for use in combination with alpha-blockers for the treatment of BPH."
Nitratessame	Absolute contraindication	Absolute contraindication	labelLevitra: identical. All three labels contraindicate concomitant organic nitrates or nitric oxide donors in any form, which includes amyl and butyl nitrite "poppers". Guanylate cyclase stimulators such as riociguat are contraindicated on all three as well. This is a contraindication, not a caution.
Interval before a nitrate in an emergency	Label states none — "it is unknown"	At least 48 hours	labelLevitra: label states none — "has not been determined" — "A suitable time interval following dosing of vardenafil for the safe administration of nitrates or nitric oxide donors has not been determined." Cialis is the only one of the three that names a number: "at least 48 hours should have elapsed after the last dose of CIALIS before nitrate administration is considered." Viagra's label says instead that "After patients have taken VIAGRA, it is unknown when nitrates, if necessary, can be safely administered." A shorter unknown is not a shorter known.
Starting dose on an alpha-blocker	Start at 25 mg; be stable on the alpha-blocker first	Start at the lowest recommended dose — no figure given	labelLevitra: start at 5 mg; be stable on the alpha-blocker first, but read where the number lives — Section 2.4 itself does not repeat the 5 mg figure; it says only that "PDE5 inhibitors should be initiated at the lowest recommended starting dose". The 5 mg number appears in the Highlights, and 5 mg is the lowest ED starting dose the label supports. All three require the man to be stable on the alpha-blocker before the PDE5 inhibitor is started.
What a pharmacy paid for the brand	$83.63 per 100 mg tablet	$53.84 per 20 mg tablet	literatureLevitra: no price, because there is no row. The CMS NADAC file dated 2026-09-16 contains 0 branded vardenafil rows; the only ED brands it prices are VIAGRA and CIALIS. A drug that is not being sold does not generate invoices for CMS to average. NADAC is what a retail pharmacy reported paying, not a price you can pay.
The brand against its own generic	655× — $0.12762 generic	340× — $0.15815 generic	literatureLevitra: no comparison possible, because only the generic side of it exists. For the two brands that remain, the gap at the acquisition floor is $83.51 and $53.68 a tablet. Whatever the case for a brand is, on drug cost alone it is not close.
What the generic costs per dose	$0.10577 for 50 mg	$0.15748 for 10 mg	literatureLevitra: this is the surprise. Generic vardenafil 10 mg is $1.91 a tablet in the same file — roughly 18.1× the sildenafil tablet and 12.2× the tadalafil one. The molecule whose brand disappeared is the only one of the three whose generic is still dollars rather than pennies.
How much the dose itself matters	Doubling 50 mg to 100 mg moved the average IIEF-EF score 1.2 points	Not separately quantified by the guideline	guidelineLevitra: also not separately quantified. The AUA found that "the differences in response rates between dose groups were extremely small, rarely statistically significant, and generally not clinically significant". If doubling the dose within one drug buys about a point on a 30-point scale, the case for a milligram mapping between three different drugs is weaker than it looks.

label: Stated on the FDA label
guideline: Clinical practice guideline
literature: Published literature
practice: Common practice, not documented

Which one

Choose Viagra if

Sex is planned, and you would rather the drug be gone by morning. Four hours in, four hours out, and no 48-hour exclusion window if a nitrate ever becomes necessary.
You are willing to take it an hour ahead and keep it away from a heavy meal — the label costs you 60 minutes and 29% of the peak with a high-fat one.
You want the cheapest of the three at the acquisition floor, and you are taking the generic rather than the brand.
You get tadalafil-specific side effects. Back pain and muscle ache are reported on the CIALIS label and not on VIAGRA’s.

Choose Cialis if

You want the timing question to stop existing. Thirty-six hours of labelled cover, or the once-daily regimen, which is the only licensed one on any of the three labels.
You eat before sex. Cialis is the only one of the three whose absorption is "not influenced by food".
You also have benign prostatic hyperplasia. It is the only one of the three with a BPH indication, at the same daily dose used for ED.
You accept the cost of the long half-life: at least 48 hours must elapse after a dose before a nitrate can even be considered in a life-threatening emergency.

Levitra is not on this list because Levitra cannot be prescribed. All four strengths of NDA 021400 are discontinued and there is no current innovator label; what a prescriber can still write is generic vardenafil, at 5–20 mg starting at 10 mg. Three things to know before asking for it. Its label states no duration of effect at all, where both of the others do. It names no safe interval before a nitrate — "A suitable time interval following dosing of vardenafil for the safe administration of nitrates or nitric oxide donors has not been determined." — which is an absence of information rather than a short window. And at the acquisition floor it is the dearest of the three by a wide margin. None of that makes it a bad drug: the ENDOTRIAL crossover study, which tested all three of these molecules, reported "an overall equivalence... in the subjective perception of treatment benefits for all the PDE5i tested". It does mean that "Levitra" is now a question about a generic, not a choice between three brands. And nobody can tell you how many milligrams of one equal how many of another: the published claims contradict each other, with two sources putting vardenafil at 5× and 10× sildenafil, a factor of 2 apart, neither citing anything. The way to switch is to start the new drug at its own labelled starting dose.

Frequently asked questions

Is Levitra discontinued?: Yes, at every strength. Drugs@FDA, queried on 2026-09-20, holds NDA 021400 — LEVITRA (vardenafil hydrochloride), sponsor Bayer HealthCare — with four products on it, 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, and every one of the four has marketing status "Discontinued". The orally-disintegrating brand STAXYN (NDA 200179) is discontinued as well. It matters why: each strength is annotated "Federal Register determination that product was not discontinued or withdrawn for safety or effectiveness reasons", the FDA's formal record that the product left the market for commercial reasons and that generic copies may continue. Vardenafil the molecule is still marketed as a generic at the same strengths. Levitra the brand is not.
Why does this page quote a generic label for vardenafil?: Because there is no current LEVITRA label to quote. A DailyMed query for LEVITRA returns 4 Structured Product Labels and every one is a repackager copy — Aphena Pharma Solutions – Tennessee, Inc. (three) and Physicians Total Care, Inc. (one) — at spl_version 1, published in October 2010 and October 2011. Reading one end to end, its headings are DESCRIPTION, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, INDICATIONS AND USAGE, WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION and HOW SUPPLIED. There are no numbered sections, no Highlights of Prescribing Information and no Dosage Forms and Strengths section, and it still carries "Pregnancy Category B", a classification the FDA's Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule retired. Quoting a dosage figure from that document as though it were the current label would be quoting a document that has not been maintained for over a decade. Every vardenafil figure here is from the current-format VARDENAFIL tablet, film coated label from Zydus Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. instead, and the rows say so.
Which is best — Viagra, Cialis or Levitra?: For a reader today the question has two live answers rather than three, because Levitra cannot be prescribed. Between Viagra and Cialis the documented difference is duration: Viagra's label records an effect "for up to 4 hours"; Cialis's records improved erectile function against placebo "up to 36 hours following dosing". Cialis additionally has no food effect, a licensed once-daily regimen and a BPH indication, none of which Viagra has. Viagra's advantages are the mirror image — it is out of your system faster, and it carries no 48-hour nitrate exclusion window. The one thing no source supports is a ranking by strength: the ENDOTRIAL crossover study, which tested all three of these molecules, reported "An overall equivalence was demonstrated in the subjective perception of treatment benefits for all the PDE5i tested.", and the AUA guideline found the differences between dose groups "extremely small, rarely statistically significant, and generally not clinically significant".
Is 20 mg of Levitra the same as 100 mg of Viagra?: No source says so, and the arithmetic behind the claim falls apart on inspection. The circulating ratios come from reading the labelled ladders across each other — sildenafil is 25, 50 and 100 mg and tadalafil is 5, 10 and 20 mg, exactly 0.2× at every rung — which is companies picking round numbers, not a measurement of potency. Apply the same method to tadalafil and vardenafil and you get 1 : 1, despite terminal half-lives of 17.5 hours and approximately 4 to 5 hours, which nobody believes. And the published equivalence figures disagree with each other: two sources put vardenafil at 5× and 10× sildenafil, a factor of 2 apart, and neither cites anything. If you are switching, the new drug's own labelled starting dose is the only number a label will give you.
Is generic vardenafil cheaper than generic Viagra or Cialis?: No — it is much dearer, and this is the part that surprises people. In the CMS NADAC file dated 2026-09-16, which records what retail community pharmacies reported paying on invoice, generic sildenafil 50 mg is $0.10577 a tablet and generic tadalafil 10 mg is $0.15748. Generic vardenafil 10 mg is $1.91 — about 18.1× the sildenafil tablet and 12.2× the tadalafil one. The same file has no branded vardenafil row at all. None of these figures is a retail price, a cash price or a copay; NADAC is an acquisition floor with no dispensing fee, markup, consultation or shipping in it.
Can I take any of these with nitrates?: No. This is the one line on the page that is not a trade-off. All three labels carry it as an absolute contraindication in section 4, and the wording leaves no room: Viagra's says its administration to patients using nitric oxide donors "such as organic nitrates or organic nitrites in any form either regularly and/or intermittently is therefore contraindicated". All four labels contraindicate concomitant use with organic nitrates or nitric oxide donors in any form — nitroglycerin, isosorbide mononitrate or dinitrate, and amyl or butyl nitrite "poppers". A PDE5 inhibitor taken with a nitrate can drop blood pressure to a dangerous level. Guanylate cyclase stimulators such as riociguat are contraindicated on all four labels as well. Where the three differ is only in what they say about an emergency afterwards. Cialis names an interval — at least 48 hours. Viagra says "After patients have taken VIAGRA, it is unknown when nitrates, if necessary, can be safely administered." Vardenafil says "A suitable time interval following dosing of vardenafil for the safe administration of nitrates or nitric oxide donors has not been determined." Two of those are admissions of ignorance, not permissions. If you take one of these and then get chest pain, the paramedics need to know what you took and when.
Does Cialis really last 36 hours?: The label says: "CIALIS for use as needed was shown to improve erectile function compared to placebo up to 36 hours following dosing." Read what kind of number that is. It is an efficacy window — how long after a single dose the drug was still beating placebo on an erectile-function score in a trial — not a promise about any individual evening, and emphatically not a 36-hour erection. An erection lasting more than four hours is an emergency on all of these labels. Viagra's window is documented in the same form and is much shorter, and its own label adds that at 4 hours "the response was diminished compared to 2 hours", so both are front-loaded. What the longer window reliably buys is the end of planning. What it costs is the 48-hour nitrate exclusion, which the shorter-acting drug does not impose.

Sources

Next steps

Compare online ED providersWhich platforms prescribe which molecule, what a consultation costs, and what actually arrives.Erectile dysfunction, start to finishWhat causes it, what gets ruled out first, and what the treatment ladder looks like before a brand name comes into it.

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Educational reference, not medical advice. Which medication suits you is a decision for your prescriber.