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.
- Published: 26/09/2012 at 05:26 PM
- Writer: Online Reporters
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.
Share your thoughts
- Discussion 1 : 27/09/2012 at 10:03 AM
-
Fake drugs will never go away as they are still cheaper to make.
- Discussion 2 : 27/09/2012 at 07:10 AM
-
Lots of questions unanswered here; if this is a non essential drug why does the Thai pharma industry have the right to produce a generic? There are already several copies on the market, openly available here, not sure if legal or not, such as the Indian Kamagra. Why hasn't Viagra brought in its IP lawyers to go after sales of copies of Cialis etc? If they can lower their prices by 30% were they severely ripping us all off before? Does anyone ever pay 400 baht a tablet when similar products, widely sold in registered pharmacies, do the job for 100?
- Discussion 3 : 26/09/2012 at 10:27 PM
-
That's why I love the pharmacy-industrie.
When they realize their monopoly is over they can easily adapt their prices.
I am sure some three years ago they would have cried and would have shown that they hardly made any profit with Viagra.
But suddenly they can do - 30% discount and still make a more than sound profit.
The other drugs? I guess not much different. (Plavix and Lipitor come in mind)
- Discussion 4 : 26/09/2012 at 09:19 PM
-
If sold as over the counter, expect an undesired side effect - a jump in the number of a certain category of nature loving tourists.
- Discussion 5 : 26/09/2012 at 09:04 PM
-
These pills should be available only to those who have visited a medical doctor and found to be in need of the drug.
- Discussion 6 : 26/09/2012 at 08:21 PM
-
Viagra sales aren’t going up? I don’t understand? This has never happened before….
- Discussion 7 : 26/09/2012 at 07:24 PM
-
About time. These ED meds are way over-priced.
- Discussion 8 : 26/09/2012 at 07:05 PM
-
Seems the GPO is a growth industry!
Bangkok Post
