Chinese pharmaceutical makers are planning to jointly produce a local variant of Viagra after Pfizer Inc of the US lost its patent protection in China for the popular drug.

Without citing a source, state media reported Wednesday the 17 pharmaceutical companies, headed by Tonghua Hongtaomao Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. from northeastern China, are hoping to set up a joint-stock company to make an erectile dysfunction drug that would cost only half the price of Viagra.

The report said the Chinese product would cost 40-50 yuan (4.8-6.0 dollars) per tablet, compared to the current 99 yuan (12 dollars) price for the Pfizer product.

The report quoted Zhang Yucai, chairman of Tonghua Hongtaomao Pharmaceutical, as saying the alliance will unify production and sales so as to avoid adverse competition.

The companies are scheduled to meet in Beijing tomorrow to discuss issues regarding the establishment of the alliance, the report said, without giving further details.

Last month, China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) revoked Pfizer’s China patent for Viagra in response to complaints filed by more than 10 Chinese companies that the US company was in breach of China’s intellectual property laws by failing to accurately explain the drug’s key ingredient.

Although the same office granted Pfizer in 2001 a patent for sildenafil citrate, Viagra’s key active ingredient, an SIPO official maintained the office had the right to revoke the patent.

Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive Henry McKinnell said at the time he was “extremely disappointed” at the decision and urged Beijing to be more serious in protecting intellectual property rights.

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Source: Reuters