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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: flickerful who wrote (5743)	9/28/1998 10:41:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

09/28 08:16 Indian anti-impotence drug to hit market by mid-99 AHMEDABAD, India, Sept 28 (Reuters) - An Indian variant of U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc's <PFE.N> anti-impotence drug Viagra will hit the market by mid-1999, a senior official from the drug's developers, Cadila Health Care Ltd, said on Monday. "We have already synthesised the chemical compound sildenafil citrate, which has been branded as Viagra by Pfizer," Cadila president Ganesh Nayak told Reuters at the firm's headquarters in the western city of Ahmedabad. Nayak said Cadila was awaiting permission from the Drug Controller of India to carry out clinical trials. "We need only four months to do clinical testing before marketing it," he said. Nayak said the drug had been named Penigra by Cadila, and will cost around $2.0 per capsule in the Indian market. "The chemical compound can be manufactured and marketed in India because the patent laws are not applicable," he said. Nayak said that the World Trade Organisation's agreement on global patents for pharmaceuticals will come into force in India only in 2005. He said at least three other companies in India had developed sildenafil citrate and were ready to start clinical trials. The firm also plans to export sildenafil citrate, which is used to treat heart ailments too. Cadila, part of the privately-held Zydus group, registered a turnover of 3.5 billion rupees ($82.3 milllion) in 1997/98 (April-March), up 27 percent from the previous year. Analysts estimate the global market for Viagra and its clones to be well over $5.0 billion. Market researcher IMS Health said earlier this year that Viagra had broken all records for a new drug and was expected to notch up sales of at least $1.0 billion in its first year on the market. ($1 = 42.5 rupees)