Chinese men with erectile dysfunction can now easily buy Viagra, a popular anti-impotence drug, in about 2,000 drugstores in major Chinese cities.
Viagra, produced by US-based multinational Pfizer Inc, began selling in Chinese retail drugstores from Monday, the China News Service reported quoting a document jointly released by the Chinese ministry of health and the state food and drug administration.
Previously, the drug was only available in China at hospitals through outpatient service.
According to the document, however, a prescription from a doctor is still required to purchase the drug.
Currently, Viagra is the only anti-impotence drug that Chinese medical departments have allowed to enter the country's retail market.
Viagra entered China in July of 2000. In the past four years, the country has conducted more than 2,000 large-scale clinical tests on the drug and doctors have issued 1.5 million prescriptions.
In August, China had revoked the patent for Viagra since the manufacturer did not make proper disclosures to the Chinese patent authority. The patent re-examination board of the State Intellectual Property Office overturned Pfizer's 2001 patent on the use of sildenafil citrate, Viagra's main ingredient.
