PFIZER TO LAUNCH ITS OWN GENERIC VERSION OF VIAGRA

The little blue pill that’s helped millions of men in the bedroom is turning white. Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. is launching its own cheaper generic version of Viagra rather than lose most sales when the impotence pill gets its first generic competition. On Monday, Pfizer will begin selling the generic at half the US$65-a-pill retail price. Generic maker Teva Pharmaceuticals can start selling its version then, but isn’t disclosing the price. “Patients are paying fortunes. When generic Viagra comes out, they will be very happy,” said Dr. Nachum Katlowitz, a urologist at New York’s Staten Island University Hospital. Launched in 1998, Viagra was the first pill for impotence. Cialis and Levitra, which came out in 2003, get their own generic competition next fall.