Monday May 18, 12:46 pm Eastern Time
India Orchid claims new of making Viagra
MADRAS, India, May 18 (Reuters) - India's Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd has developed a new process to make sildenafil citrate, the active molecule in Pfizer Inc's (PFE - news) anti-impotence drug Viagra, a company spokesman said on Monday.
''We have indeed made an application to the Drug Controller of India seeking permission to manufacture sildenafil citrate...which we have synthesised by a different process,'' the spokesman told Reuters.
The Financial Express reported on Monday that Orchid had filed an application, earlier this month, for a permit to manufacture the bulk drug in India.
The report cited Orchid's application and said the company had already received export orders for 39 tonnes of the drug. The report named the buyers as Madex Pharmaceuticals, Impex Quimica SA, Cranley Trading Services and Hukong and Company.
Orchid's spokesman declined to give any more details on the company's plans.
''I cannot say anything more at this stage except to say that the details of tonnage and customers as reported are generally correct,'' he said.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said sildenafil improved sexual satisfaction and enhanced orgasms in men receiving the drug.
American prescription drug audit service Scott-Levin last week reported that Viagra had broken the all-time record for the most new prescriptions in the first month of any drug in the United States. Over 570,000 new prescriptions were written for the brand in April, it said. |
