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    Set to conquer US, Indian 'Viagras' may give Pfizer a hard time

    Synopsis

    The nearing end of Pfizer's patent will open floodgates of the lucrative US market to Indian companies.

    vaigra
    The end of Pfizer's patent will open floodgates of the lucrative US market to Indian companies.
    Come 2020, the US could be awash with numerous Indian copycat versions of Viagra, the iconic blue pill that cures erectile dysfunction, as Pfizer loses the patent of its drug.

    The end of Pfizer's patent will open floodgates of the lucrative US market to Indian companies. Fifteen companies worldwide have been granted approval by US Food and Drug Administration to produce sildenafil citrate, the formulation patented as Viagra, The Print reported. According to the report, seven of these are Indian companies: Rubicon Research, Hetero Drugs, Macleods Pharma, Dr.Reddy’s, Aurobindo Pharma, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Ajanta Pharma.

    Indian companies will benefit from their pricing edge.The pill costs about $65, or over Rs 4,400, in the US, the report says. Pfizer had itself launched a generic version of the drug at half of the price in 2017.

    Even this, experts believe, won't match the price that Indian firms could end up offering, the report says. Indian companies already sell desi versions of Viagra at as low a price as Rs 32. Indian companies selling desi versions of Viagra to Americans will be a watershed in the history of the iconic drug.

    Launched in the US 20 years ago, Viagra has become one of the most popular drugs all over the world.

    From its serendipitous discovery to its many counterfeit versions, here is a look back by AFP at how the world embraced the little blue pill that treats impotence:

    Discovered by chance
    At the start of the 1990s, teams at Pfizer experiment with a new drug called Sildenafil used to treat chest infections. It proves powerless in calming thoracic pain brought on by such infections, but the drug has an unexpected side-effect on men: it causes an erection. The majority of the male volunteers in the experiments also report a significantly improved sex life.

    Pfizer changes tack, focusing instead on researching male impotence, a problem that affects a third of men over 40. Up to this point the treatment for erectile dysfunction has been poor: only impractical and inefficient options exist, such as mini-suppositories inserted into the urethra or injections in the penis. On March 27, 1998 the US Food and Drug Administration agency (FDA) gives the green light for the new treatment and in April the little blue pill called Viagra hits US stores.

    Overnight hit, global demand
    Success is immediate: 150,000 prescriptions are written in the US in the first two weeks of the drug going on sale. And even before its release outside the country, Viagra generates worldwide attention. It turns up on black markets in Israel, Poland and Saudi Arabia at prices five times its legal US cost of around 10 dollars (eight euros). After officially launching in Europe in September 1998, Viagra fast becomes a cash cow for Pfizer.

    Sales worldwide rise more than 30 percent in 1999 and 2000, quickly leaping over the annual billion-dollar mark. It's a surprise even for the pharmaceutical company, which had projected revenue of about 100 million dollars a year.

    Fakes everywhere
    Ad campaigns by former US presidential candidate Bob Dole in 1999 and football legend Pele in 2002 boost the notoriety of the drug, which is said to start having an effect about 27 minutes after ingestion. Soon fakes start turning up, with counterfeit Viagra made in Thailand or India available online just a few weeks after it first went on the market.

    The scammers realise the pill is a potential goldmine and Viagra quickly becomes the most counterfeited drug. Seizures of fake pills at customs proliferate. A Pfizer poll in 2011 shows 80 per cent of Viagra randomly bought online is fake.



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