Foreign media satirize domestic "Viagra" ginger: better than fake medicine

A Chinese pharmaceutical company has been approved by the State Food and drug administration as the first manufacturer to officially produce a domestic version of Viagra, a famous Pfizer drug for erectile dysfunction, the New York Times website said on September 11 Pfizer's Viagra patent expired in May in China, and its patents in several European countries and other regions have also expired, the report said With the introduction of cheap alternatives, the profits of the US pharmaceutical giant are expected to be eroded Several Chinese companies have reportedly been competing for dominance in the new market for generic drugs since May In the early stage of competition, Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd seems to win After years of behind the scenes preparations, the company recently obtained a national license to start mass production of sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient of Viagra Baiyunshan, a subsidiary of the larger Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., has been developing its own products since the 1990s, but had to postpone production in 2003 because of Pfizer's patent, Baiyunshan did not get a production license, the Southern Daily reported In the 20 years before Pfizer's patent expires, Chinese companies have been waiting eagerly because of the huge profits in China's erectile dysfunction drug market, which is only expected to grow, the report said According to the report, "China sildenafil market 2009-2018 survey report" released by China market research report estimates that more than 50 million men in China suffer from sexual dysfunction Demand for therapeutic drugs is expected to rise with the growth of China's aging population The UN Economic and Social Council predicts that by 2050, China's population aged over 60 will reach 437 million According to a Citigroup study cited by CNBC, the current market value of erectile dysfunction drugs in China is 1.7 billion yuan per year By 2018, the market could be worth as much as 5 billion yuan, or $810 million, and Viagra's generic drugs could have more than half of the market, the report said The price of Viagra in China is more than 90 yuan per tablet, and the price of generic drugs that Baiyunshan plans to launch to the market is 30-50 yuan per tablet, which has a great competitive advantage According to the report, Viagra entered the Chinese market in 1998, and Pfizer faced a series of challenges from patents to other lawsuits until 2007 The biggest challenge for the company to promote the drug to Chinese consumers is that it does not own the trademark of its most commonly used Chinese name "Viagra", which sounds close to the English name, literally "big brother" or "big guy" When Pfizer tried to register the Chinese spoken name as its product trademark, it found that the trademark had been owned by a local pharmaceutical company in Guangzhou, so it could only register the boring transliteration of the name "Viagra" for drugs, which had no special meaning in Chinese Baiyunshan obviously wants to imitate the success of Viagra in mainland China by naming its product "Jinge" The new name is humorous similar to Pfizer's "big guy" in pronunciation Moreover, the hook shaped sword, which was loved by warriors from Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty, reminds people of the image of penis However, according to an article in China Youth Daily, this obvious imitation in product and marketing is a weak performance of Chinese pharmaceutical industry In 2006, long Yongtu, chief representative of China's accession to the WTO, was quoted as saying that China has more than 5000 pharmaceutical enterprises, large and small, of which more than 90% produce generic drugs The total output value of all pharmaceutical enterprises together is less than 40 billion US dollars, which is not comparable to Pfizer's In 2013, Pfizer's global operating revenue was $51.3 billion Nearly ten years later, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are still keen on imitation rather than innovation They avoid huge capital investment and the risk of developing new drugs, and choose to obtain certain returns by imitating the tested successful best-selling drugs or repacking the existing ingredients According to China Youth Daily, the average R & D budget of Chinese pharmaceutical companies is less than 1% of sales, despite the government's recent incentives However, for consumers who want to save money, generic drugs are still much better than the ubiquitous fakes in China, because they are regulated by the government, contain the same active ingredients and have the same dosage as the original drugs It remains to be seen whether those who prefer traditional Chinese aphrodisiacs, such as pangolin scales or tiger whips, will be conquered by the new "golden dagger" in the market