When does Viagra go generic?

After Pfizer, Inc. found out that the small blue tablet they formulated in the laboratory for the treatment of men who were suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension and angina pectoris could produce rock-hard erection among men who were known to be impotent, it was decided that the drug sildenafil citrate should be marketed as a cure for erectile dysfunction.
This was after the drug was patented after an examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) – an agency operating under the office of the Dept. of Commerce – had gone through the application of Pfizer and deemed the drug suitable as meeting the requirement to obtain the patent.
Sildenafil citrate gained approval of the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and was subsequently marketed as the first oral drug for the treatment of erectile dysfunction under the brand name Viagra.
However, come March 27, 2012, Pfizer Inc., going by the assertions from the Patent and Trademark Office, will lose its patent for Viagra. When this happens, any drug maker will have the right to privilege and sell cheap “generic” copies of the most successful erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment in history.
Doctors and Lawyers believe that the expiration of Pfizer’s monopoly on the drug will be great news for patients, as that will lead to massive competition between Pfizer’s brand Viagra and the new generic copies, bringing down massively the price of Pfizer’ and Bayer’s Levitra and Eli Lilly’s Cialis as well.
However, there is bound to be some confusion in the ED marketplace because of the prospect of increased options and cheaper prices for patients. Also, Pfizer would have to come to terms with the onerous task of defending the reputation of its original brand, and pharmaceutical stores would be flooded with imitation Viagra pills, most of which could probably come from China.
Some of the possible events that could happen in the days leading to the launch of generic Viagra in are given below.
At present, Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are the only PDE5 inhibitors used for the oral treatment of erectile dysfunction drugs officially approved.
As the first of the three, Viagra pills will obviously be the first to lose its monopoly status (Levitra expires in 2018 and Cialis expires between 2017 and 2020).
Once the patent for Viagra expires, there is bound to be massive advertisement and flooding of the market with cheap generic sildenafil citrate (legally, drug manufacturing companies will still not be able to use the “Viagra” brand name).
The parent manufacturer of Viagra pills, Pfizer, has, up till this moment, increased the price of its ED product every year between 5% and 11%, to $14 per pill at the wholesale level. However, once the patent on the drug goes off, the price will plummet.

Some quick facts about Viagra
• Viagra tablets became approved by the FDA as an oral treatment for ED in 1998, and the drug is expected to go off-patent on March 27, 2012, at which time generic sildenafil citrate – the sole active ingredient in Viagra – products will flood the market, thereby reducing the prices of ED drugs.

• One option available to Pfizer upon Viagra going generic is to “tough it out” and continue marketing its product as the original ED tablet. Since the introduction of Viagra, over 25 million men have used the wonder drug and it could be possible that many of these men may be reluctant to switch.