Sexual dysfunction in men known as impotence or erectile dysfunction (ED) refers to the inability of the male organ to produce and maintain an adequate erection to please the partner. Patients with erectile dysfunction (ED) found relief with the introduction of Viagra (sildenafil citrate). As an alternative to painful operations and suction therapy, impotent men were forced to use Viagra.
For the treatment of erectile dysfunction, Viagra is an FDA-approved oral tablet. The sole deterrent to using Viagra is the prohibitive cost. Price gouging is to be expected since Pfizer Inc. has the exclusive right to patent the medicine. Market forces have figured out how to get around this legal mess. They have released a generic version of Viagra that promises the same effectiveness at a fraction of the cost.
The active element in generic viagra is sildenafil citrate. Pfizer’s Viagra is roughly 30% cheaper with this alternative. The lower price is due to the drug’s development have received less funding. The generic version, on the other hand, is not regarded as a patentable improvement. As a result, lower costs lead to lower prices.
Medicine producers additionally guarantee that generic copies of the drug known as generic pharmaceuticals will have the same efficacy levels as the brand-name counterparts. There is, however, a significant caveat to all of these advantages. It has been authorized that the generic Viagra is good for the treatment of ED.
Cheaper Option
New drugs are given two names when they are developed by pharmaceutical companies: a generic name, which refers to the chemical substance that goes into each pill, and a brand name that refers to the product as a whole. The following are some of the reasons why the price has been reduced:
- The avoidance of research and development expenses.
- Navigating government bureaucracy for medication approval as safe and effective is costly and time-consuming.
- In order to save money on advertising.
The expenses of searching and finding a novel medication to treat an ailment are avoided by generic producers because they have access to enough information about the brand name drug to make bioequivalent versions of the brand name drug. Generic medicine makers do not have to establish that their product is safe and effective via clinical studies.
To top it all off, big pharmaceutical firms profit handsomely from the promotion of new drugs. There is no need for generic producers to advertise their products since they have been on the market for a long time. Generic producers, for the same reason, do not give free trial dosages to market their goods as well.
A patent is granted when the firm is certain that the new medicine is safe and effective. There is a legal and exclusive right to produce and commercialize this medicine exclusively for the duration of the patent, which is owned by that corporation. In addition, the drug’s brand name cannot be utilized by any other company.
Patented drugs may be made and marketed under a different brand name or their generic (chemical compound) names after the patent has expired. It is essential that generic medicine be manufactured and distributed in strict accordance with FDA regulations. The Food and Drug Administration is a government body whose job is to ensure that pharmaceuticals are safe and effective before they are put on the market.
