The Ministry of Health today approved the registration of Tarim ("lift" in Hebrew), made by Unipharm Ltd., a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE: PFE; LSE: PFZ) Viagra. Like Viagra, Tarim's active pharmaceutical ingredient is sildenafil.
Viagra's Israeli patent, which protects its exclusivity, expires in February 2014. Unipharm has apparently decided to register Tarim and begin marketing earlier, under the at-risk launch method.
Under an at-risk launch, a generic company launches a product before the patent for the brand drug expires, and waits to see if the brand drug manufacturer files a patent infringement suit. In such a lawsuit, the generic company will try to prove that the patent is invalid; if it wins, it gains the sales during the at-risk launch period; if it loses it has to pull the generic drug and usually pays a fine. Pfizer will presumably sue any company it believes is infringing its Viagra patents, even in a small market like Israel, given Viagra's importance for sales and the company's public relations.
Unipharm and Pfizer declined to comment on the report.
Generic Viagra will likely be sold for much less than the brand drug. Viagra is included in the basket of healthcare services, and is sold for NIS 47 a pill, resulting in a cost of hundreds of shekels a month for patients taking it in a treatment regime. Competition between the three manufacturers of erectile dysfunction drugs (Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra) has already lowered prices even before generic versions enter the market. Tarim will require a prescription, like Viagra.
The Israeli market for erectile dysfunction treatments is NIS 130 million a year. There is also a thriving black market and counterfeit drugs.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 21, 2013
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