Viagra price cut by 20-30%

Viagra price cut by 20-30%

Stung by the launch of a cheap, locally made generic version of its anti-impotence drug, pharma-giant Pfizer has informed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) it will cut the price of Viagra.

Photo by Peerawat Jariyasombat

The company said it will reduce the retail price by 30% for 100mg pills and 20% for 50mg pills, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseri said on Wednesday.

He said the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has applied for the registration of generic sildenafil, the main ingredient in Viagra, to treat impotence in men. The product has been registered with trademark Sidegra and is priced at 45 baht for 100mg tablets and 25 baht for 50mg pills.

Viagra is currently priced about 200 baht a pill in the market.

The generic product will be available from Oct 1.

Dr Pipat said the private and government sector were cooperating to increase access to the medication and he believed that once cheaper pills were available then fake pills would disappear from the market within five years.

GPO managing director Witit Artavatkun earlier said Sildegra underwent two years of research and experimentation, including a process called bio-equivalence, to ensure its quality and its effectiveness compared to the original Viagra. 

Initially, the GPO will produce 200,000 packs of the drug with four tablets per pack, or a total of 800,000 pills, to test the market.

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