Keep it up: Viagra contributes 90% to Pfizer's China sales
Staff Reporter 2012-11-08 16:26
Viagra tablets. (Internet photo)
Viagra accounted for 90% of pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer's total sales in China for the first half of the year.
Sales of the drug, used to treat erectile dysfunction, have reached to 500 million yuan (US$80 million) per year. The company expects sales can go up to 1 billion yuan (US$160 million) per year after its promotion campaign from this year.
Viagra has opened China's medicine market for Pfizer, which has been expending its business to local retail pharmacies to sell its eight major prescription drugs, which also include Lipitor, from the beginning of the year. These medicines have brought the company 800 million yuan (US$128 million) so far, Shanghai's First Financial Daily quoted Zhang Rui, deputy director of Pfizer China, as saying.
Pfizer started to sell Viagra through China's pharmacies eight years ago but now hopes it can become a household name for its other pharmaceuticals.
The company closed its retail pharmacies in third-tier cities in China last August and started cooperating with local pharmacies.
The company believes the decision is paying off, said Zhang. Pfizer has recruited more than 500 workers handling sales of prescription medicine to around 40,000 local pharmacies and 5,000-6,000 local hospitals.
