Flashermac Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) plans to produce an affordable, generic anti-impotence drug and says it will be available in the marketplace from Oct 15. GPO chief Witit Artavatkun said on Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given permission to the GPO to produce Silagra - a Viagra equivalent that contains generic sildenafil, the same drug that powers Viagra. "This will help deal with counterfeit drugs," Dr Witit said. "There are also many elderly people in the country, making this type of drug more popular, but it is less accessible because of its high price." The generic drug will come in tablet form in dosages of 50mg and 100mg. A 50mg tablet will be sold at 25 baht each and a 100mg tablet 45 baht, he said. Viagra is currently priced about 200 baht a pill in the market, he added. The issue has attracted many comments from Thai netizens in different forums. One of the comments jokingly asked whether the government's 30-baht universal healthcare scheme can be applied. Another netizen suggested that the generic anti-impotence drug should also be sold in popular convenience stores. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/310979/cheap-viagra-available-next-month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSTEACH Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) plans to produce an affordable, generic anti-impotence drug and says it will be available in the marketplace from Oct 15. GPO chief Witit Artavatkun said on Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given permission to the GPO to produce Silagra - a Viagra equivalent that contains generic sildenafil, the same drug that powers Viagra. "This will help deal with counterfeit drugs," Dr Witit said. "There are also many elderly people in the country, making this type of drug more popular, but it is less accessible because of its high price." The generic drug will come in tablet form in dosages of 50mg and 100mg. A 50mg tablet will be sold at 25 baht each and a 100mg tablet 45 baht, he said. Viagra is currently priced about 200 baht a pill in the market, he added. The issue has attracted many comments from Thai netizens in different forums. One of the comments jokingly asked whether the government's 30-baht universal healthcare scheme can be applied. Another netizen suggested that the generic anti-impotence drug should also be sold in popular convenience stores. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/310979/cheap-viagra-available-next-month I wonder if they plan on developing their own ED drug or ripping off Pfizer's patented Viagra. Guess we know the answer since foreign patents are generally overlooked in LOS. The patent on Viagra expires in 2020. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Sounds like the Chinesee knock off viagara i a whole lot cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 "This will help deal with counterfeit drugs," Dr Witit said. So.... the government is sanctioning the production of a copy of Viagra, ergo a counterfeit, to combat counterfeit drugs.... One can't help wondering which rich family has decided to get into this business, having seen money flow out of the country to where the counterfeits are produced now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumsoda Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 If the Goverment can stem the outward flow of cash created by curry flavoured ED drugs and use the profits to create cheaper versions of medications for illnesses such as cancer....then I for one am all for it. Recent time spent in & around hospitals has opened my eyes. There are huge numbers of people currently being treated and I am told (by Doctors) that the queues are getting longer. Treatment, whilst cheap by Western standards is still very expensive for Thais....and NO they are not all covered by Insurance Rider: As long as it is the GPO I'm happy.....another rich family with their snout in the trough....I'm not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 My thoughts exactly, DS. The GPO has strange priorities - a stiff willy is more important than saving lives. TIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Generic/counterfeit - fine line I guess. I'd *hope* the "generic" brand would be made safely, unlike what one would imagine some "fake" pills which could contain anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baa99 Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Generic/counterfeit - fine line I guess. I'd *hope* the "generic" brand would be made safely, unlike what one would imagine some "fake" pills which could contain anything... Ahhh Yes. Health and safety regulations are rigorously enforced in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 ... my thoughts exactly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boo Radley Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 I wonder if they plan on developing their own ED drug or ripping off Pfizer's patented Viagra. Guess we know the answer since foreign patents are generally overlooked in LOS. The patent on Viagra expires in 2020. As far as I understand it, the new Thai drug silagra mentioned in the OP is just a generic version of viagra, meaning it contains exactly the same active ingredient as viagra, namely sildenafil. Pfizer managed to obtain a patent extension for viagra in the US until 2020, meaning prices will remain relatively high there. However, no patent extension was obtained in a lot of other countries eg Thailand, and in these countries the patent expires(d) in 2012, meaning cheaper generic versions will be allowed. So Thailand isn't ripping off Pfizer, the patent has expired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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