China's potent answer to Viagra(2)

There are no reliable figures for ED's prevalence in China. But US figures show 52 percent of American men older than 40 suffer from the disorder. Guo Yinglu, a Chinese Academy of Engineering member and one of the country's leading urological surgeons, believes the Chinese figure is about the same.

Zhang Buyong, a principal researcher with the SFDA's South Medicine Economy Research Institute, estimates more than 120 million Chinese men have ED. "That would mean an ED treatment market of 1.3 billion yuan ($211 million) in China, with a rapid annual increase," Zhang says.

Foreign manufacturers currently dominate the market.

Viagra's producer Pfizer controls nearly half the market, followed by Cialis' producer Eli Lilly and Co, and Levitra's producer Bayer AG. Viagra is very expensive - more than 100 yuan a pill, Zhang says.

Guangzhou Baiyunshan is the first Chinese company to receive SFDA approval to produce the ED medicine.

The company started research and development on ED medicine that uses sildenafil as the main ingredient in the 1990s but had to halt its research after Viagra was patented in China in 2001, explains Li Chuyuan, president of Guangzhou Baiyunshan's parent company Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings.

Guangzhou Baiyunshan is first past the post among the Chinese companies vying to produce the medicine because of its track record, Li says. Also, it employed the services of Ferid Murad, the co-winner of the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998, whose work on nitric oxide led to Viagra's development.

Guangzhou Baiyunshan will change the status quo of China's ED medicine market because it has the advantages of lower pricing and more sales channels than foreign rivals, Zhang Buyong says.

At the news conference, Guangzhou Baiyunshan signed agreements with leading pharmacy chains to distribute Jin'ge and says it's confident it can meet the vast demand because it can produce 4 billion pills a year.