Jin'ge, a medicine made for erectile dysfunction, was officially released by Guangzhou Baiyuanshan Pharmaceutical Holdings Company.
The drug, which translates to "golden spear" in English, will be the first sildenafil-based medicine in China. It is a generic drug that is comparable to Pfizer's popular erectile dysfunction medicine called Viagra, which has an expired patent in the Chinese market since May.
A news conference by Baiyuanshan was held in Beijing on Oct. 28. The company announced that it already began distributing Jin'ge to several pharmacies across China. The drug will also be supplied to hospitals at a later time after drug-acquisition bidding.
In contrast to Viagra's blue color, Jin'ge is pink and will be available in packs of one, two, three, four and 10 tablets.
A one-tablet pack will cost 48 yuan ($7.90), while a 10-tablet pack will cost 345 yuan.
According to Wang Wenchu, senior executive of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings, the parent company of Guangzhou Baiyuanshan, a Jin'ge tablet is composed of 50 milligrams of sildenafil, which is the United States Food and Drug Administration's recommended dosage.
The company is aiming to alter the reality in which foreign firms currently influence the market for erectile-dysfunction treatment. Foreign firms also dominate the high-end part of the market which generates yearly revenues of billions of yuan, said the senior executive.
Baiyuanshan began researching and developing sildenafil-based drugs in the 1990s, but they stopped when Viagra's patent was introduced in China in 2001.
Ferid Murad, a co-winner for a Nobel Prize for medicine in 1998, was recruited by the company to build Jin'ge. Murad is also known for his research on nitric oxide that led to the development of Viagra.
In addition, Wang mentioned that Chinese health officials have validated Jin'ge as a high-quality generic drug which is cheaper by nearly 60 percent than foreign sildenafil-based drugs.
According to Chen Keji, a distinguished expert in geriatrics and a Chinese Academy of Sciences member, about 46 percent of Chinese males 40-year-olds and above--equal to 100 million--have erectile problems. Only 4 percent approach doctors for their erectile dysfunction because others are misinformed and do not want to get labeled for their condition.