Pfizer plans generic version of Viagra

TRENTON, N.J. — The little blue pill that’s helped millions of men in the bedroom is turning white.

Drugmaker Pfizer is launching its own cheaper generic version of Viagra rather than lose most sales when the impotence pill gets its first generic competition next week.

Pfizer Inc. will begin selling the white pill at half the $65-a-pill retail price Monday, when its patentprotected monopoly ends. Generic maker Teva Pharmaceuticals can start selling its version then, but isn’t disclosing the price.

Many more generics go on sale next summer, which will steadily slash the price of generics, possibly by 90 percent.

Launched in 1998, Viagra was the first pill for impotence. It transformed a private frustration for many aging men into a publicly discussed medical condition with an easy treatment, far more appealing than options like penile injections and implants. Pfizer’s early TV ads for the little blue pill even coined the term erectile dysfunction — ED for short.

AP PHOTO PFIZER’S FIX: Pfizer Inc. announced that it is launching its own generic version of Viagra, left, called sildenafil citrate, right, starting Monday.